It's Only Rock & Roll
by jcott3
Summary: Alternate Universe. Follow along as your favorite WWE Divas form an all-girl rock band.
1. Chapter 1

**IT'S ONLY ROCK &amp; ROLL **

_A/N: This is an alternate universe story that largely takes place in the music business. I don't own any of the WWE stars used in this story and I gain nothing financially from using them here. Please don't sue me._

_Our story begins in 1999 …_

It had been quite a ride for the girls in Diva Delight. Trish Stratus, Torrie Wilson and Victoria 'Vickie' Varon had all met each other when they auditioned for a new girl group, and they were the three selected. Manager Eric Bischoff and songwriter/producer Vince Russo had already conceived everything – all the girls had to do was sing what they were told to. Their first album dominated the dance charts for almost a year, their songs were heard in every club in the country, their videos were all over MTV and they won a Grammy Award as Best New Artist. As time wore on, Bischoff and Torrie began a relationship and the songs began to revolve more around her. Their second album didn't quite sell as well but the first single was a huge hit, as it featured in a key scene in Dwayne Johnson's latest film and another song topped the dance charts after it was remixed. Their third album bombed despite a massive media blitz, and now their record company wanted to have a meeting to discuss the problem.

In a conference room at a hotel in Los Angeles, the ladies of the group, Bischoff, Russo and representatives of their record company sat down to see if and how things could be fixed.

After some debating, Bischoff suggested, "Maybe a change is in order."

Record company representative Pat Patterson asked, "Like what? What do you suggest?"

Bischoff rhetorically asked, "What if we had some new blood, a new member to Diva Delight?"

Patterson said "Go on" and waited to see where this was leading.

Bischoff opened the door of the room and ushered in a young, tan, gorgeous brunette woman. He gestured towards her and said, "Everyone, say hello to the newest member of Diva Delight, Candice Michelle."

Trish stood up and said, "Hold on. You never told us anything about this. So we're a foursome now?"

Bischoff smiled and said, "Not exactly." He walked over to the blond, placed a hand on her shoulder and the smile left his face as he said, "I'm sorry, Trish. You're out of the group."

Trish shrieked, "WHAT?!"

Vickie stood up, put her hands on Trish's shoulders and said, "Calm down, Trish. Take it easy."

Trish yelled, "How do you expect me to take it easy?"

Vickie said, "Relax", and eased Trish back into her seat. She then turned towards Bischoff and asked, "So, it's me, Torrie and Candice now?"

Bischoff nodded his head and said, "That's right."

Vickie motioned Torrie and Candice towards her and said, "Well, get in here and let's see how we look. Torrie, you're in the middle." Torrie stood up and moved over. Candice moved in on her right and Vickie on her left, each with an arm around the blond in between them. The three struck a pose and Vickie asked, "How do us devils look?"

Bischoff smiled, gave two thumbs up and said, "Perfect."

Vickie smiled back to him and said, "Good." Without warning, the smile left her face as she shoved Torrie out of the way, grabbed Candice by her hair with both hands and began slamming her face-first into the conference table. After the third time Candice's head hit the table, record company executive Shane McMahon grabbed Vickie and began trying to pull her away. The tall angry brunette kicked her legs and shouted "Let me at her!" as she kept trying to grab Candice. Shane and Trish pulled her out of the room while Bischoff helped Torrie to her feet and everyone in the room checked on Candice, who had her hands over her face and was crying, "My nose! My nose!"

Once they were in the empty conference room across the hall, Shane asked, "If I let you go, do you promise to behave?"

Vickie growled, "Yes", clearly aggravated by the situation and only agreeing because she had to, not because she wanted to.

Shane closed the door, turned towards both women and said, "This meeting shouldn't have even been necessary. The problem is Bischoff's an idiot and thinking with his dick. He let his involvement with Torrie cloud his judgment. If he had been paying attention at your live appearances, he would have known _Trish_ here was the one to focus on, not Torrie.

"I have a business proposition for you two: I think you have a lot of potential if Trish is in front. If you get one or two more girls in, we can show the world how great you really are. What do you say?"

After a brief silence, Vickie said, "I have to be honest, Shane. It's nice that you believe in us, but I really _hated_ all of this girl-group song-and-dance bullshit. I don't want to do another group – I want to be in a band! I wanna rock!"

Trish turned towards her and said, "Uh, Vickie? You don't play an instrument, and if I'm going to be the lead singer, what are _you_ going to be doing?"

Vickie looked Trish in the eye, raised her index finger and said, "Au contraire, my dear Trisha. Remember when we were recording our first album? Remember that hot drummer who played on it?"

Trish answered, "Yeeesssss?", but failed to see what point her friend was trying to make.

Vickie continued and said, "Well, I was in drum corps in high school, and after hanging out with him, I started working on re-learning everything and getting back into playing. He showed me a lot, and not just behind the drum kit."

Trish's eyes widened at the revelation and said, "So THAT'S what you were doing, tapping with those pencils all the time. I thought you were just trying to drive me crazy."

The brunette smiled and said, "Actually, I was hoping to drive _Torrie_ crazy and get her to quit. What do you say, Trish? You'll be the singer, I'll be the drummer, we'll get some other girls with us and we're there."

Shane raised his hands and said, "Hold on. No offense, Vic, but before anything else, we need to see if you're really any good. Are you girls doing anything later tonight?"

_**TO BE CONTINUED …**_

_A/N: My goal for this is to update at least once a month and to eventually bring this story to "the present". As this is an alternate universe story, if you have anyone/anything you'd like to see, feel free to let me know in the comments section. I'll consider anything as long as it doesn't conflict with what I already have planned. For example, I will tell you right now AJ Lee will be appearing at some point. Enjoy and, as always, rate &amp; review._


	2. Auditions

That night, Shane took the two women to an LA recording studio to put Vickie through her paces as a drummer. He quizzed her on various rhythms and styles of playing, then had her play along on some recordings with the drum tracks muted and her playing to a click track. She had some difficulty on some of the faster songs but Shane felt good enough about her playing overall and declared she'd be acceptable as a drummer.

Trish and Vickie knew money was going to be tight for them for a while, now that they were no longer in Diva Delight. Trish moved out of her downtown LA apartment and moved into Vickie's house in Topanga Canyon. The tall brunette had always been very social and put the word out among her producer and musician friends that she and Trish were available for session work doing backing vocals. They got a few sessions here and there to keep themselves afloat, with the rest of their time being spent practicing and looking to the future.

The three all knew that a kick-ass lead guitarist was absolutely essential to getting a new band off the ground. Shane used his contacts around the music industry to try and find what they were looking for. Finding someone who was a high-caliber musician AND female was not easy. After listening to demo tapes and looking at pictures, they narrowed the list down to a dozen possible players to audition. Almost three months after Diva Delight blew up, the big day came for the auditions.

Shane had played in a jazz combo since college and offered to stand in on bass while they tried out guitar players. On that day, their first couple of tryouts didn't meet with success. They weren't bad musicians – they just weren't _right_.

After the third potential guitarist left, Shane called "Next!" and an Amer-Asian woman entered the room. Trish asked her name and she replied, "Malia Hosaka."

Vickie asked "What's your background?" and Malia answered "I've mainly done session work out of Philly, and I came out here last year. Mostly session work, nothing really permanent."

Trish said, "Okay, let's see what you can do. Do you know 'Drive Me Crazy'?"

Malia answered "Sure." Vickie clicked her drum sticks together and counted off "1,2,3,4" as they began playing. As they played, Trish and Vickie began to think she had potential.

As they played, none of them noticed the tattooed red-haired woman who walked in. During the outro solo of the song, they suddenly heard Malia's guitar go dead and someone else was coming through the amplifier. All of them turned to see the redhead – she had pulled the plug on Malia's guitar and plugged herself in instead.

Trish yelled at the gatecrasher, "Stop, STOP! Who the hell do you think you are? Wait your fucking turn!"

The redhead said, "Have it your way" and sat down on the floor beside the amps.

Trish turned to Malia and said, "I'm really sorry about that. Let's try it again."

They plugged Malia back in, started over and tried a few more songs, but the disruption had clearly thrown her off her game and she just didn't have it anymore. Afterwards, Shane walked her out and said, "We'll be in touch." As he walked back in, he pointed at the redhead and yelled, "You! After what you just pulled, you'd better be good!"

The redhead stood up, grabbed her Fender Mustang guitar, plugged herself into the amp and calmly said, "You'll find out soon enough."

The four played through a couple of songs. The redhead had a fire to her playing they liked. They also liked the way she moved – even though they were in a rehearsal studio, she moved and acted as though she were on stage at the Staples Center. She made a couple of minor mistakes during the solos, but her overall performance won them over.

Shane stopped and said, "Well, you can definitely play. What's your name?"

The redhead answered, "Lita Hardy".

Vickie recognized the name and she said, "Oh, I know you. You played with the Omegas."

Lita smiled and said, "Yep. For the last several years, going to back to when we were in high school."

Vickie asked, "Why did you leave? Aren't Matt and Jeff your brothers?"

Lita calmly explained, "No. In reality, Matt and I were married. Our first manager came up with the idea of us saying we were all siblings, that it would get people to focus on the music more than if we said we were a couple. Matt and I officially split up months ago. We tried to keep it together but it was too nerve-wracking for us to still be on the road together. Since Jeff didn't want to be without him, I was the one who got to leave."

They played through a couple of more songs, and Lita asked, "So, what do you think?"

Shane said, "Give us a moment" as he, Trish and Vickie huddled together. He then asked them what they thought.

Vickie declared, "She's the one! I can feel it! Didn't you feel it?"

Trish said, "I liked her playing, but her attitude needs work. Besides, we still have a few more players to try out. We owe it to them to give them a chance." She turned to Shane and asked, "What did you think?"

He replied, "I agree that she has a bit of an attitude, but she can definitely play. I also agree with Trish that we should hear the others out."

As they broke the huddle, Lita asked, "So, what's the verdict?"

Shane answered, "You're good, I'll give you that. Vickie there wants to call off the rest of the auditions, but we owe it to the others outside to give them a fair chance. We'll be in touch, but right now, you're in the lead."

Lita smiled and said, "I'll be in LA for a couple more days. Don't keep me waiting too long", as she packed her guitar back in its case and headed for the door.

The rest of the auditions went OK, but no one really caught their attention the way Lita did. Finally, there was just one person left.

Shane called, "Next!" and in walked a short brunette woman wearing yoga pants and a loose-fitting top, carrying a guitar case and had a large purse slung over her shoulder. She looked more like a housewife than a musician.

Shane said, "I'm sorry. Are you lost?"

The woman answered, "I'm here for the audition."

Trish asked, "So, what's your name?"

The brunette replied, "Nora Greenwald".

_**TO BE CONTINUED …**_

_(A/N: For those who may not be familiar with her, Malia Hosaka was a woman who wrestled mainly on the indy circuit in the 90's and 00's. She had matches in ECW and WCW, and was signed to a WWF developmental deal in 1999. Originally, they had planned for her to be an unknown woman and challenge Ivory for the Women's title, but so many fans recognized her they had to abort it. In early 2000, she was slated to become Essa Rios' manager, but at the very last minute, they pulled her out and replaced her with Lita - and the rest is history.)_


	3. Auditions Part 2

Shane looked at the list of names on the music stand beside him and said, "You're not on the list."

Nora asked, "Do you have a Debbie Miceli on that list?" and he answered, "Yes".

The brunette explained, "She got a last-minute call to go to Japan for a few weeks so she suggested I take her place here".

"So … how do you know Debbie?" Shane asked.

She answered, "We were in Randy Savage's band together for three years".

Trish's face lit up in recognition as she said, "I _knew _you looked familiar! Vickie, remember the first time we went to the Grammys and they gave Randy that lifetime achievement award? Now picture her with blond hair, a tiara and a blue evening gown." Trish moved over behind her and shaped the brunette's hair into a formal style as she said, "It's Miss Mona."

Vickie said, "You're right. It is her."

Shane asked, "So, how did you land that gig? You just don't look like his type."

"Well, …" Nora said as she began the story, "one of Randy's people heard me playing the organ at church when I was in high school. They somehow tracked me down and asked me to audition, as Randy had just fired his whole band and wanted to go with something different, an all-girl backing band."

At the time, it was earth-shattering when Randy presented his new band members to the world: his wife, Miss Elizabeth (keyboards, backing vocals), Debbie Miceli (lead guitar, backing vocals), Georgie Bellars (bass, vocals), Sherri Martel (drums, percussion), and the woman who now stood before them, Miss Mona.

Trish inquired, "So, you were a keyboardist for him, not a guitarist."

Nora clarified, "I was _everything_. Keyboard, guitar, backing vocals, percussion. I even learned to play sax for a few songs because Randy didn't want to pay someone and bring them on the road to do only a handful of songs each night. I took organ lessons from our church's music leader and when I got old enough, I began doing all the Saturday vigil masses in exchange for free lessons. I also sang in the choir and I learned to play guitar so I could help out with the Sunday morning folk mass.

"Anyway, I passed the audition but my parents made me finish high school first. After high school, I still had two months before I turned 18, so Randy's brother actually became my legal guardian during those months while I learned the songs, and there were a lot of them. Randy didn't do the same set every night. We had 140 songs we had to know cold as he was not above changing the set list in the middle of a show."

Trish asked, "If you were in high school then, how old are you now?"

Nora politely answered, "21."

"_You look more like 51 in that outfit"_, Vickie thought to herself before saying, "At least you're legal now."

Shane asked, "So what have you been doing recently?"

Nora started to say, "After the plane crash …"

Shane raised his hand and said, "Nuff said." The story had been all over the news almost a year ago when Randy Savage's tour plane went down, killing him, Elizabeth, Sherri and several members of his road crew. Many others were seriously hurt.

Trish motioned her towards one of the amplifiers and said, "OK, enough of the back story. Show us what you've got."

Nora opened her case, took out her Ibanez RG-655 Prestige and plugged it in. She took a minute to loosen up her fingers and make sure the instrument was in tune. Once she was ready, she said, "OK. Let's go."

As they went through the list of songs the auditioning players were told to know, Nora dazzled the others with her flawless playing. There was just one little problem – she just stood there, looking down at her guitar except for a few instances where she'd look over at Vickie for a cue where the song was going to go.

After the last song, Nora asked, "So, how did I do?"

Shane said, "Would you excuse us for a minute?" as he and Trish moved over to Vickie's drum kit to talk privately. Once they were over, Shane asked the two women, "What did you think?"

Trish said, "She's the best one we've seen today. She's the one."

Vickie scoffed, "You're kidding, right? She just stood there. She's about as exciting as watching my nails dry."

The blond said, "She played rings around everybody we've seen today. Why can't you see that?"

The brunette answered, "If I wasn't playing drums, I would've fallen asleep watching her. She's too plain and she dresses like my grandmother. There's nothing about her that will grab people's attention."

Shane said, "I think you've just got a crush on that redhead who was here earlier."

Vickie answered, "Yes! Now she had 'Rock Star' all over her. She's the one we need."

Shane started to take his cell phone out of his pocket as he said, "Hey, who said it has to be one or the other? Maybe we can use both of them. Let me get the redhead back here and let's see how they gel together."

_(A/N:As many of you already know, 'Nora Greenwald' is Molly Holly. Before she came to the WWF, she wrestled in Florida, where she got to know Randy Savage's brother, Lanny Poffo, and actually lived in his house for a while. Through this, she was asked by Randy to train his then-real-life girlfriend, Gorgeous George (real name Stephanie Bellars - the two names are combined in this story). As a thank-you, he got WCW to sign her and she became part of his entourage as Miss Madness, along with Gorgeous George and Madusa. A few months later, she was kicked out of the group and revamped herself as Mona.)_


	4. The Meeting

Once Shane called Lita to get her to return to the rehearsal space, he called and ordered a pizza. They invited Nora to join them and while they ate, she told them more about her time with Randy Savage.

"Someone in his organization had heard me playing the organ at church, and I was invited to Florida to audition. I was more than a little nervous. Here I was, a teenager still in high school, and being offered a chance to work with one of the biggest names in the music business.

"Randy was always very intense and his mind was always spinning with new music ideas and whatnot. Anyway, for my audition, he gave me a piece of music to play, and I did. Then he added some notes and had me play it again. Then he had me play it backwards. Then he had me play it in bossa nova style. Then he had me play it in reggae style. Then he had me play it in 7/8 reggae. Then he added some more notes and while I was playing, he swapped that page out for another one. After that, I thanked him for considering me and I was going to go home now. That's when he told me I got the gig. I was so excited – until my parents insisted that I finished school first. Fortunately, he was very accommodating. He sent he tapes and sheet music so I could learn all the songs while I finished school and the day after I graduated, I was on a plane to Florida to finally get to rehearse with the rest of the band – Elizabeth, Sherri, Debbie and Georgie. They were all so warm and friendly to me and helped me so much. They made me feel so at home with them."

Nora paused for a moment to compose herself a little and took a sip of her soda. Before she could say more, the door to the rehearsal room opened. Lita walked in with her guitar case and said, "Okay. Let's rock and roll."

Trish took a moment to wipe her fingers with a paper napkin and stood up. Vickie waved her hand at the redhead while she continued eating her slice of pizza. Shane stood and said, "Okay. Lita, this is Nora. Nora, Lita." The two shook hands as Nora said, "Nice to meet you."

Lita said, "Same here" then turned to Shane and said, "Look, to be totally honest, I've never worked with a second guitarist and I'm not really too big on the idea, but I really like these two girls, so let's give it a shot."

Shane said, "Don't worry. If the two of you can't gel, we'll just go with the one we like best." He then wiped his hands with a paper napkin and went to grab his bass. Vickie finished her slice of pizza and her can of soda, then headed back behind her drum kit. Lita took her guitar out and plugged into one of the amplifiers they had for the auditioners, while Nora picked up her guitar she had left plugged in before.

Once everyone was ready to go, Shane said "Okay. We'll do 'It's My Life' first. Lita, you take lead for this one." Vickie clicked her drumsticks together and counted off and they went into the song. Everyone played well, it sounded good and things looked promising. They played a couple of more songs until Shane said, "For this one, Nora, you take lead."

They went into the next song and all was going well until it came time for the guitar solo. Instead of playing rhythm, Lita began playing the guitar solo as well. Nora heard Lita's first few notes and was able to shift into the rhythm guitar part with very little effort. Once the song was over, Shane turned to the tattooed redhead and asked, "What the hell? It was her turn, not yours."

Lita made a half-hearted apology as she said, "Sorry. I told you I'm not used to working with a second guitarist, and this one seems very content to play rhythm, so why should I have to swap leads with her?"

Before Shane could answer, Nora turned up the volume on her guitar and played the first half of Van Halen's "Eruption", hitting all the blistering notes perfectly and with very little effort. Once she finished, she just glared at Lita and innocently said, "You tell me." The redhead was too speechless to say anything. It was very clear this girl could outplay her anytime she wanted to.

Sensing potential hostility, Shane asked Lita and Nora, "Would you two excuse us for a minute?" He motioned for Trish to join him over by Vickie's drum kit. As the three huddled together, he said, "I don't think it's gonna work with both of them, so which one do you two want?"

Vickie spoke first and said, "Lita. She's got the look and the stage presence we need to conquer the world."

Trish pointed out, "She has a major attitude problem. I think she's going to be trouble. We should go with Nora. She's a better musician and she's more of a team player."

Shane sighed and said, "So you two are deadlocked? Let's play a few more songs so we can see who would fit in better, then we can decide who gets the gig afterwards. Okay?"

Trish and Vickie both said "Okay", then they broke the huddle. As Shane and Trish walked back from the drums, Nora raised her hand and asked, "Can I ask you guys something?"

After Trish said yes, Nora turned to Shane and asked, "Are _you_ going to be the bass player for this band?"

He answered, "No. I'm just standing in while we found a guitarist."

Nora relaxed and said, "Good. No offense, but you stink."

Lita chimed in, "Yeah, I gotta agree with her on that one."

Nora then asked, "What's your background?" and he simply answered, "Jazz." She scoffed, "I find that hard to believe. If you're background is jazz, then you should know you can't just play the notes – it has to _swing_."

Shane gave a puzzled look, so Nora took off her guitar off, leaned it against the amplifier and held her hand out, signaling she wanted him to hand over his instrument, which he did. As she adjusted the strap to fit her smaller frame, Trish asked, "You play bass, too?"

As she finished adjusting, Nora answered, "There were a few songs where Georgie would go out front and sing so I handled bass for her."

Shane offered Nora the pick he still had in his hand, but she shook her head and waved her hand, saying "The bass was always meant to be played with your fingers." She took a minute to warm up, playing some funk-inspired bass licks. Once she was ready, she said, "Okay. Let's try that one again." Vickie counted off and they began to play. Shane stood back, watched and listened as they played. He smiled, and saw the same thing on the faces of the four women in front of him.

There was something very special in that room.


	5. Drinks and Socialization

For the next two hours, the four women played music together, taking turns calling out songs to play. If someone didn't know a song, they would sing or hum it until they got it. Shane could see the four of them were enjoying playing together. There was just one more thing to do.

Shane took the four women down the street to a local bar. Once they were seated, a waitress came to take their drink orders. Shane ordered a beer and an appetizer platter for them to munch on, Trish and Vickie each ordered a glass of white wine, Nora asked for a Diet Coke and Lita surprised the others by asking for a boilermaker. As the waitress left to get their drinks, the redhead asked, "Why did you bring us here?"

Shane answered, "If the four of you are going to be in a band together, you're going to spend A LOT of time together, and this is just to see how you all get along in close quarters. If you girls can't hang around with each other, you're never going to be able to make music together."

LIta acknowledged, "I guess that makes sense." She then turned to Trish and asked, "So what's your story, Blondie?"

Trish said, "The name's Trish. Anyway, Vickie and I were in a group called Diva Delight …"

Lita shook her head and said, "Never heard of them. What kind of music did you do?"

The blond answered, "Club music. You know, stuff you can dance to."

Lita said, "That explains it. Continue."

Trish resumed, "Anyway, when our record sales started slipping, our manager wanted to replace me with some young brunette girl. Vickie wouldn't stand for it and broke the girl's nose. After that, Shane offered to help up start a new group, but Vickie said she wanted to form a band, not just another girl group."

The waitress came back and gave everyone their drinks, then placed the appetizer in the middle of the table, and gave each person an appetizer plate. As they all began dividing up the appetizers, Lita said, "OK. I just have a hard time picturing this one as a pop tart" as she pointed at Vickie.

Confused by the term, Nora asked, "Pop tart?"

The redhead looked at her and said, "Yes, pop tart. 'Pop' as in music, 'tart' as in girl, thus 'pop tart'."

Nora just said, "Oh", then bit into the mozzarella stick she had in her hand.

Lita then asked, "So what's your story, Granny?"

Nora asked, "Why does everyone think I'm so old? I'm only 21."

Lita bluntly answered, "Because you dress like a refugee from a nursing home."

Vickie raised her glass and said, "YES! I knew I wasn't the only one who thought that!" as she and Lita clinked their glasses together.

Nora finished chewing and asked, "Really? Anyway, for about three years, I was part of Randy Savage's backing band."

Lita looked impressed as she said, "I've at least heard of him, but you just don't look like his type. No sparkle."

Nora reached around and grabbed her purse from behind her. She rummaged through it for a few seconds until she found what she was looking for – a CD. She opened it, took the booklet out, thumbed through the pages until she got to a group photo. She laid it on the table, turned it to Lita, pointed to herself in the picture and said, "That's me right there."

The redhead looked at it intently and asked, "That's more his style, but what are you supposed to be in this? A princess?

Nora said, "No, more of a beauty queen. Georgie thought it was a good look for me, and that it would balance out Elizabeth on stage." She then folded the booklet back up, put it back in the CD case and returned it to her bag.

Nora continued, "Anyway, after the plane crash, and after my body and soul healed, I was looking a new gig. Debbie Miceli had been called in for the audition, but she got something else at the last minute and suggested I take her place, and so, here I am." She picked up a chicken finger and asked, "So what's your story?"

Lita finished the sip she just took of her drink and said, "This is going to be a long one. When I was a freshman in high school, I met a guy named Matt Hardy, who was a year ahead of me. We hit it off instantly and got to be really good friends.

"One day, Matt invited me over to his house, and I got to meet his younger brother, Jeff. Jeff was just sitting in his room, singing and playing a guitar. I had a bass at home that I played a little, so when I told him about it, he suggested I bring it over, and I did. We started playing together and we just had the most similar taste in music. We clicked so well I almost forgot about Matt. He didn't like being shut out, so Jeff told him he should learn to play the drums, and Matt took him up on it.

"For the rest of the school year, every day, I came over to the Hardy house and we played music in the garage. When summer hit, Jeff suddenly decided he should play bass and I should play guitar. He said he didn't want to be the sole focus of the band, which he'd be if he had to be the singer AND the guitarist. After that, I spent the rest of the summer trying to master guitar.

"When school started up again, we had gotten good enough that we were able to start playing out. Mostly just local stuff, once a month or so, but we lived for those gigs. By the time I finished high school, we were playing every weekend, all over the state. I got a job at a convenience store after high school, and after work, it was off to practice.

"A year later, we recorded our first record. It was just some little indie label, but it was something. Jeff wanted to go on the road and tour behind it. He was still in high school, but his father knew this was his passion and signed the paperwork to let him drop out of school.

"My parents weren't so understanding. They didn't want me to quit my job for something like this. When I did and when I left to go on the road, they put my stuff in a storage locker and told me not to come back, and I didn't. After that, the Hardys became my family.

"We slugged it out for the next five years, playing anywhere we could, almost 300 shows a year, recording every chance we had. We built our name up and we had a solid fan base. Matt and I got married. Everything was going so well for us."

Vickie asked, "So, how did you wind up here?"

The redhead took a sip of her drink, sighed and said, "Let's just say I made a big mistake, then I made a bigger mistake of trying to hide it. I had a one-shot fling with another guy. It just happened, spur of the moment. It was meaningless, but Matt was crushed when he found out. He filed for divorce almost immediately. We tried to keep playing together, but the tension between us was too much. Then one day, Jeff came to me and asked me to leave the band. He said one of us had to go, and he would never take sides against his own brother, so it had to be me. It was hard, since the Omegas weren't just a band to me – we were a family."

"Anyway", Lita said as she turned to Shane and asked, "So how do you fit into all of this?"

He responded, "I'm a vice-president with the record company Diva Delight was on. When their sales were slipping, there was a meeting. I didn't agree with what was going on and I offered to help Trish and Vickie form their new group – that and I was the one who kept Vickie from killing the girl they wanted to replace Trish with."

Lita told the raven-haired woman, "I'm liking you even more. So, since we're getting to know each other, your turn. What's your story? How did you and Trish come together?"

Vickie said, "I was in chorus and drum corps in high school. When I went to college, I continued singing but I stopped drumming because there was no space in a dorm room for a drum kit. Not long before graduation, I saw an audition for girl singers. I went in, tried out and the ones selected were myself, Trish here, and another girl, Torrie. While we recorded our first CD, I got to know the guy playing drums and it inspired me to dust off my sticks and get back into playing shape. When Diva Delight imploded, I wanted to do something different from the song-and-dance BS we did there. Shane took me to a recording studio and kept having me play in different tempos and styles, then had me playing along with other people's songs until he was satisfied I was good enough for a band."

Lita asked, "So you've never played in a band as a drummer?"

Vickie shook her head and answered, "Nothing like this."

The redhead spoke up and said, "Well, your playing is very similar to Matt's – very straightforward, not a lot of fills, not trying to overpower everyone. I'm not sure how this will go, but I'm looking forward to the journey. This will be a strange experience, starting over from square one."

Shane sat up and said, "Maybe not square one. Given the fact that all four of you are from established acts, you may be able to bypass a lot of that. Get away from the world for a while and get some really good songs together, then you can sell yourselves to a record company as a supergroup. Think about it: Trish Stratus and Vickie Varon from Diva Delight. Lita Hardy from the Omegas. Miss Mona from the Randy Savage Band."

Nora raised her hand and said, "Hold on there. Mona's dead. She died in the plane crash. I'd rather not have to go back to that."

Shane said, "Fine. All you need is a new name." To herself, Vickie added, "And a new look."

Puzzled, the brunette asked, "What's wrong with the one I have?"

Shane responded, "Because 'Nora Greenwald' sounds like the name of a librarian."

Lita threw in, "And you dress like one, too, Princess."

Nora requested, "Please don't call me 'Princess'".

"Whatever you say, Granny", was Lita's answer, leading the brunette to change her mind as she said, "Fine. Call me 'Princess'." She then turned to the others and said, "I'm open to whatever suggestions you have for a new look."

The redhead raised her fist and said, "That's the spirit."

Shane said, "Then you're all set." He held his mug out and said, "To the future". The four women put their glasses in as well and repeated the toast, then they all clinked their glasses together and finished their drinks.

_[A/N: It's been said that the way you get to really know a person is to share drinks or a meal with them. When Metallica were finishing up auditions to replace the late Cliff Burton in 1986, the final test was going out for drinks with each of the two finalists to see how they get along with them. The one they got along best with was the one who got the job, Jason Newsted, who would play with them from 1986 to 2001._

_The "pop tart" line comes from a story Rolling Stone magazine did on the Spice Girls way back when._

_I'm sure many of you know about Lita singing with a punk band called the Luchagores a few years ago, but when she was in high school, she played bass in a band, a fact I used here. Her and Jeff clicking together to the point of ignoring Matt comes from a story involving guitar gods Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. As teenagers, one was dating the other's sister. When he came over the house and found out the girl's brother was a guitar player, the sister got forgotten about and two began practicing together regularly. Jeff's desire to not be the sole focus of the band comes from Fleetwood Mac's founder, guitarist/singer Peter Green, who insisted the band have a second singer/guitarist so he wouldn't have to be the only star. They would add a third later on, and even though band members came and went , the band regularly featured three singer/songwriters so no one was "THE star". The band name, Omegas, comes from the OMEGA promotion Matt and Jeff Hardy were part of way back when.]_


	6. Getting Down To Business

The four women agreed to get their affairs in order, then meet up in a week to begin to write songs. Lita offered the use of her house in North Carolina, away from the distractions of Los Angeles and other major cities.

When the day came, Trish and Vickie flew in, then took a cab to Lita's place. Once they arrived, Lita came out of the garage to greet them. While Vickie began unloading her drums, Trish took a moment to pay the driver, then she and Lita grabbed their suitcases and took them into the house.

Once inside the front door, Lita said, "Welcome to my buyout. This used to be the home base for the Omegas when we weren't on the road. Our entire touring party lived here, and the garage was where a lot of our music came together.

Trish looked around the living room and asked, "Why isn't there any furniture here?"

Leading the way up the stairs, the tattooed redhead answered, "Like I said, our entire touring party lived under this roof – band, roadies, you name it. The roadies all slept out there in sleeping bags. Matt and I had one bedroom, Jeff and his girlfriend had the other and our road manager had what was originally the den."

Once upstairs, Lita led Trish to one of the bedrooms. "This used to be Jeff's room. I hope you and Vickie don't mind sharing, Blondie."

Trish said, "No problem" as the two women put the suitcases on the bed. "You keep talking about what a great songwriter Jeff was. Maybe being in his space will help us write."

Lita laughed and said, "We'll see." As they left the room, Lita pointed out, "The bathroom is right there, my room is down there and Princess will be bunking in in our road manager's old room downstairs."

Once they were back downstairs, Lita led Trish through the kitchen and into what had been a two-car garage, but had been converted into a rehearsal space. Nora and Vickie were already inside, setting up their instruments. The raven-haired drummer pointed to the front of the garage and told Trish, "I left your mic case up there."

As Trish went to go get the case, Lita said, "There are some extra mic stands in the corner, behind the tarp". The blond singer picked up the case, got a mic stand from where she was told and moved back to the center of the garage.

Meanwhile, Vickie had almost finished setting up her drum kit when Lita asked, "Where are your mics?"

Dumbfounded, the raven-haired drummer asked, "Mics?"

Lita reiterated, "Yes, mics. Without microphones, we can't record the drums. Don't tell me you didn't bring any."

Vickie responded, "Fine, I won't'

The redhead took a deep breath and said, "No problem. We'll do without tonight and go get you some tomorrow."

Once the four of them were set up, they ran through a couple of covers, just like they had the day of auditions. After the second song, Vickie asked, "Lita, do you have any other guitars besides that one? I think we're sounding a little too much like the Omegas."

The redhead gestures towards a large road case full of drawers and said, "Take your pick."

Vickie stepped out from behind her drums, went over to the case and opened the top drawer. In it was a blue Fender Mustang, not much different from the one hanging on the redheaded guitarist's shoulder. In the second drawer was a brown Mustang. The third contained a black Mustang. After the sixth drawer containing the same model guitar, she asked, "What, did you hit a special on these or something?"

Lita answered, "No. While working on our second album, Jeff began experimenting with oddball tunings and because of that, I had to have a lot of very specifically-tuned guitars for each song. Fender Mustangs are cheap on the second-hand market, so we bought a bunch of them whenever we came across them. There are some different ones in the lowest drawers."

Vickie went straight to the bottom drawer, opened it and took out the tobacco-colored Gibson Les Paul. She looked it over with a smile coming over her face before she handed it to Lita and said, "This one."

Lita smiled and said, "Ahh. Miss Congeniality. Great axe, lot of power, but a motherfucker to lug around onstage."

Nora spoke up and asked, "Have you tried a Les Paul Jr.? Same sound, less weight. Might work better for you."

As Lita moved the strap to the other guitar, she said, "Hey, we gotta go to the music store to get Wacko here some drum mics, we'll see if they have an axe to meet our needs." Once she plugged in the other guitar, she said, "Okay, chat time's over. Back to work" and motioned Vickie back to her drums.

The four women once again took their places by their instruments, and Trish behind their microphone. They played through many of the same songs they did that first night they came together. After about half an hour, Lita said, "Okay, now that we're all warmed up and our creative juices are flowing, … Shane says we have to write some songs. So, who's got something they'd like to share?"

The question was answered with dumbfounded looks from the three women before her. Lita turned to Trish and asked, "Come on, you gotta have something to say, Blondie?"

The blond defensively held her hands up and said, "Don't look at me. In Diva Delight, we were always told very specifically what to sing and how to sing it. We never came up with anything ourselves. The music tracks were already recorded. We just put our vocals on them and that was it."

Lita looked a little angry, then turned to Nora and asked, "What about you, Princess?"

Nora answered, "Well, as our hostess, I think you should have the option of going first."

The tattooed redhead said, "I wanted to give you gals first crack, but I have some stuff. Some demos I made over the years with the Omegas", and moved over to the table where the DAT machine and the mixing board sat. "Give a listen and tell the class what you think."

Before Lita could start the tape, Nora called out, "Wait!" She went into her road cases and pulled out a pad of staff paper, along with a four-color pen. She clicked the black ink and said, "OK. I'm ready. Go."

Lita turned on the DAT machine and hit play, then adjusted the volume. For the next hour, the women listened to her demos. Some of the recordings were just riffs and little pieces, other were semi-formed songs of Lita strumming a guitar and singing deep, brooding lyrics. As the tape played, Nora furiously wrote out everything on the pad in front of her. Sometimes, she'd ask for a pause so she could finish writing it out. Once the tape had finished, Lita asked, "What did you think?"

Trish briefly paused, then said, "Girl, you got issues. Have you ever tried being happy?"

Lita defensively said, "The Omegas struck a chord with the outcast teenagers of America. Angst worked for us."

Nora raised her hand and asked, "Lita, how come the Omegas never used any of this? There's some real potential here."

Lita answered, "Well, … Jeff was such a great songwriter I felt a little intimidated, so … I never ran any of this by him."

Vickie pointed out, "But I know you got some writing credits in the Omegas."

Lita responded, "If Matt or I were fooling around and Jeff heard something he liked, he'd build a song around it, then give credit to all three of us."

Nora took off her bass and said, "Their loss - our gain" as she moved behind her keyboards and turned them to face the others. As she moved her hands up to play, she continued, "Take that first riff. That's the intro, then maybe something like this for the verses, then a bridge like this, then back to the riff for the chorus" and played each section as she described it. Pressing a few buttons on the keyboard, she then said, "So what you have is this" then started the built-in drum machine, playing the bass parts in her left hand, the guitar parts in her right, singing the melody and calling out each section as she played it.

Once she had finished, Lita said, "Okay, let's run through it."

Trish asked, "Wait. What are the words to this masterpiece?"

Lita answered, "That would be your department, Blondie."

Trish stuttered as she asked, "M-m-m-m-me?" and Lita answered, "Yes, you. Jeff always said lyrics should come from the heart of the person singing them. Right, Princess?"

Nora answered, "Actually, Randy Savage's brother, Lanny, wrote all of the lyrics and Randy set them to music."

Vickie told Trish, "Don't worry about it, Trish. Just sing the melody for now and you can come up with lyrics later."

Lita switched the tape in the DAT machine, pressed record and counted off "1,2,3,4" to start them playing. Once they had gone through what they had just come up with, all four women smiled and Lita turned to Nora to ask, "So what else do you got, Princess?"

_[A/N: Back in the 1960's and 70's, it was not uncommon, especially in England, for a band to live communally, especially during the writing and recording process for an album. Traffic and Fleetwood Mac (pre-Stevie Nicks) were just some of the bands who had everyone living under one roof._

_For the most part, I based the Omegas on the alternative band Sonic Youth, whose leader, Thurston Moore, was known for using a lot of experimental tunings on his guitars, as well as sticking things under the strings to affect their sound, making it necessary to have individually-tuned guitars on the road. Fender Mustangs were the frequent choice because they were cheap and easy to get second-hand. Because of Sonic Youth, many of the Seattle grunge bands like Nirvana also used them. __Nowadays, there are MIDI programs to change the tuning of a guitar by just pressing a button._

_Lita saying lyrics should come from the person singing them comes from an interview with Sammy Hagar. In most bands, the lyrics are written by the singer (a notable exception would be Rush, whose lyrics are written by their drummer, Neil Peart). Nora saying Randy Savage's lyrics came from his brother is based on the fact that Savage's real-life brother, Lanny Poffo (aka 'Leaping Lanny' and 'The Genius') used to regularly recite poetry before his matches, and a reference to acts who will use an outside lyricist when songwriting. Most notable among these are Bernie Taupin (who co-wrote most of Elton John's songs with him) and Robert Hunter (who wrote the words for many of the Grateful Dead's songs)._

_Lita's reluctance to share what she'd written while in the Omegas is based on Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters. While he was the drummer for Nirvana, he never shared the demos he made with the rest of the band, as he was in such awe of Kurt Cobain's songwriting abilities. The "Miss Congeniality" guitar is a reference to the name she used when she was in ECW and to the tendency some musicians have for naming their instruments.]_


	7. Finding A Sound

During their initial session, Lita and Nora were able to come up with the basic framework for four songs, with Nora saying she'd "sleep on it" to try and do something with the rest of the song bits Lita had played for the others.

Coming up with lyrics was not going as smoothly. Trish struggled to come up with words to go with the music being written. Having never been involved with or even seen the writing process in action, she felt overwhelmed.

The next day, after a late breakfast, Lita told Vickie, "OK, Wacko. We gotta get you some drum mics, so be ready to go ASAP."

Nora chimed in and said, "Oh! I'll go with you. I have some stuff I want to get, and you said you wanted to try out some other guitars so we don't sound so much like the Omegas."

Lita smiled and said, "No problem, Princess", then turned to Trish and asked, "You want to come, too, Blondie?"

Trish shook her head and answered, "No, I'm going to stay here. Maybe a little solitude will help me write lyrics."

Lita said, "No problem. We'll be back in a few hours."

* * *

From Lita's house, the nearest Sam Ash Music store was about 45 minutes away. Once they parked and went in the front door, Nora started heading towards the keyboard section of the store and said, "I'll catch up with you later." Lita waved in acknowledgement, then she and Vickie headed to the back of the store where the percussion section was.

Once they got to the back, a clerk came up to them asked, "Can I help you with anything?"

Lita answered, "Yes, you can." She patted Vickie on the back and said, "Wacko here needs drum mics. She has a basic 8-piece kit and needs mics, stands, cables – the works. If you look in your records for a 'Matt Hardy', just give her what he used. I don't remember all the models, I just know they were Sennheisers and they worked very well."

The clerk moved behind the counter to the computer on top, then began to bring up Matt's information. Lita told Vickie, "He'll take care of you. I'll be over in guitars when you're done."

The tattooed redhead headed over to the guitar section of the store and looked around the many instruments hanging on the wall. She took one off, plugged it into a nearby amplifier and began playing with it. After about a minute, she decided it wasn't right for her and chose another.

After about 10 minutes, Nora came over holding a large box in her arms and asked, "How's it going?"

Lita looked up from the Ibanez 7-string guitar on her lap to her brunette bandmate and asked, "What'cha got there, Princess?"

Nora answered, "MIDI pedals. My old set got destroyed in the plane crash and it's been hard to find the model I liked. Anyway, how goes the search for a new guitar?"

Lita responded, "I'm having trouble deciding. You got any thoughts?"

Nora pointed at the guitar Lita had and said, "Not that. Not the kind of sound that works for us. Too sludgy."

Lita nodded in agreement and said, "You're probably right. Besides, I was having trouble reaching the low B string on it anyway." and replaced the instrument on the wall. She then threw her hands up towards the wall of guitars and asked, "See anything that grabs you?"

Nora looked around the wall, took a bright red Gibson ES-335 off its hook and said, "Try this one."

Lita plugged the amp cord into it, sat down with it on her lap, and began to play. She twiddled with the knobs as she strummed, but once she had everything the way she liked it, she hit a power chord and listened for a second. Liking what she heard, she played some more and said, "This one sounds pretty good." She then looked at the price tag on it and nearly dropped the instrument on the ground.

Nora asked, "What's wrong?"

Once she had recovered enough from the sticker shock, Lita turned the price tag towards her bandmate and asked, "Need I say more?"

Nora said, "Fine" and took the guitar back to its hook. She looked again for a suitable instrument, selecting a cherry red Gibson SG and said, "Try this" as she handed it to the redhead.

Lita plugged it in, turned it up and gave the strings a strum. Nora seemed to like sound, too, but something wasn't quite right. She dug into her purse for the electronic tuner she kept with her, handed to Lita and said, "Tune it to open E-flat. Oddball tunings were the Omegas thing, not ours." The redheaded guitarist did as told, then gave another strum. Both nodded in agreement that this was the one.

Lita began running through some scales to try it out, then began fooling around, just playing what she felt. At one point, her bandmate yelled, "Hold on." She took a mini tape recorder out of her bag, pressed Record and said, "Do that last one again." Lita did as she was told while Nora grabbed a Rickenbacker 4003 bass off the wall just like the one she had back at the garage, plugged it in and began playing along with her. After a few minutes of this freeform jamming, the brunette bassist said, "Needs work, but the basics are there."

As Nora turned off the recorder and put it back in her bag, Vickie came over and said, "We have mics now. I also got a plug-in headset so I can sing backup, too."

Lita said, "Good for you, Wacko." She stood up and continued, "Let me just put this back and we'll get out of here."

Nora had just put the bass she had used back on the wall when she asked, "After all that, you're not going to buy it? That sound worked for us and I could see it on your face that you liked it, too - not to mention the color goes well with your hair. C'mon, you know you want to. Can't you hear it saying, '_Buy me, Lita. Buy me. We can make beautiful music together._'?"

Lita looked down at the guitar for a minute, then said, "You're right. You know, I've never actually _had _a brand-new axe. Jeff and I always got ours at pawn shops because they were cheap and money was so tight for us then. It's about time I did something for myself."

* * *

As the three headed back to the house with their new purchases, Lita drove, Vickie rode shotgun and Nora sat in the backseat, listening to what she had recorded at the store of them playing, and transcribing it onto a small notepad she had with her. As she finished and was putting her stuff back in her purse, Nora heard Vickie singing softly to herself and asked, "What song is that?"

Vickie turned red briefly and said, "That was just one of the vocal exercises we used to do in Diva Delight. We used to do them all the time before a recording session, a TV appearance or one of our occasional live appearances. Trish said it helped bring us together and foster unity."

Nora said, "Do it again. Don't worry, it's just us and we're all friends here."

Vickie did as she was asked. When she finished, Nora said, "Do it again."

Vickie started singing again, but this time, the brunette sitting behind her joined in as well. All three women liked the sound of what they heard. Nora then said, "One more time, with you, too, Lita."

The redhead said, "I'm not really a singer. Most of what I did in the Omegas was screaming along with Jeff. I'll just focus on guitar, thank you."

Nora leaned forward between her two bandmates sitting in front of her and said, "Just do it. Look, keep your eyes on the road but your ears on us. We'll go slowly until you can catch on. Okay?"

Lita sighed and said, "I'll try, but don't be disappointed if I don't sound like an angel."

Nora laughed and said, "I'll bet none of us sounded perfect the first time we played. We just worked at it. Now let's try it again."

* * *

By the time they got back to the house, they had found Lita's vocal range as a singer and all three were singing together as they got out of the car and prepared to unload their new toys into the garage. As they went in through the outside door, Trish was sitting on a stool behind Nora's keyboards, with a spiral notebook and a pencil on the music stand in front of her. As her three bandmates came in singing, the blond lead singer added her voice to the mix. Vickie and Nora liked what they heard, as did Trish, but Lita was still too self-conscious about her own voice to show any enthusiasm. Instead, she looked to the blond and asked, "How did you do today?"

Trish handed her the notebook she had been writing in and said, "I'm making progress. What do you think?"

Lita looked over what she'd written for a minute, then said, "Blondie, you're not in Diva Delight anymore. You shouldn't be writing songs about clubs and dancing and shit like that."

Trish was slightly offended and sarcastically asked, "And what would you prefer? Some of Jeff Hardy's depressing '_life sucks and I hate everyone in it_' songs?"

The redhead answered, "At least don't be so girly."

The blond held up her hands and snapped back, "Look around you, there's a serious estrogen supply here. How are we not expected to be girly?"

Lita answered, "Look, if we want to be successful, we have to get the guys into our music. Girls are very fickle and will move on to the next act the instant they see something shiny and new. That's why boy bands usually don't last and the current batch will be gone in a few years, while guitar bands tend to stick around." She turned to Nora and asked, "What do you think, Princess?"

Nora answered, "We really should have a positive message to our music, not just be all about sex and drugs."

The redhead said, "We can work on that, but for now, let's get this stuff set up and get some rehearsal time in. We'll get back to writing later."

* * *

Later, after rehearsals and dinner, Trish sat in the bedroom she shared with Vickie, listening on the small portable DAT player she had the rough demos on, trying again to write lyrics, taking the feedback from the others into account as she did. As she read back what she had, she was startled to see the raven-haired drummer standing there. She turned off the player and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Vickie said, "I thought you might like some company or help. Those two just seem to feed off each other when it comes to writing and I feel left out. I want to contribute so I'm not 'just the drummer'. I know you're struggling and I'd like to help, if I can. I think I have a good idea of what might work for us, or at the very least, I can be a sounding board for you, someone to bounce ideas off, like Lita and Nora have each other."

Trish said, "I'd like that." She rewound the DAT player and asked her longtime friend, "Got any ideas for this?" and pushed Play. Vickie sat down on the bed next to Trish as she turned up the volume and two listened together.

_[A/N: Up until not that long ago, it was very common for musicians to keep a notebook or a small tape recorded with them at all times for jotting down songs ideas. Nowadays, they use their cell phones for that purpose. I'm sure many of you have seen the commercial Gwen Stefani did in 2012 for the HTC Windows Phone 8X, which had her using it for songwriting ideas as well as designs for her clothing line. Recently, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett lost his cell phone – and with it, the 250 song ideas he had recorded on it._

_Choosing a instrument is always a personal choice, as different people have different tastes and opinions of what sounds good, much in the same way wrestlers have different movesets and combinations they like to use in the ring. For the instruments they use, the Gibson SG is one of the more popular guitars used, most notably the weapon of choice for Angus Young (AC/DC) and Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath). Rickenbacker is a lesser used guitar brand. Their basses are generally considered to sound great, but are very heavy to carry around onstage. Notable users of them are Paul McCartney (the Beatles/solo artist), Chris Squire (Yes), Geddy Lee (Rush) and Lemmy Kilminster (Motorhead)._

_Finding a vocal sound is also an individual choice, as different vocal ranges will produce a different sound. Much of the scene of them singing in the car is based on when Crosby, Stills &amp; Nash came together. David Crosby (of the Byrds) and Stephen Stills (of the Buffalo Springfield) had already left their respective bands and had started writing together. When they played their songs for some musician friends, Graham Nash (of the Hollies) asked them to play it again, then asked them to play it a third time, where he added his own voice to the mix. Everyone loved the sound, and Nash then joined them.]_


	8. Shopping Trip

Over time, the women fell into a daily routine of practicing and writing. With Vickie now helping Trish write, their songs were getting finished and perfected. Days were spent on writing, individual practice, working out arrangements, and practicing group vocals. In the evening, they'd run through everything as a typical concert in front of a video camera, then watch it back and critique each other's performance. The exception was Sundays, when time was set aside for Nora to go to church and the others would do the grocery shopping.

After several months, in March of 2000, Trish got a voicemail from Shane McMahon, wanting to know how they were doing. Trish called him back and said they were doing fine and had a lot of songs written. He said he wanted to hear them and would be in the area the following week on business to check up on them.

When the day came, Shane arrived at the house and Trish greeted him after he rang the doorbell. She welcomed him in and said, "Hey, Shane. Come on in. Don't mind the way I look. We only got up less than an hour ago and just finished breakfast", motioning to the running shorts and T-shirt she was wearing. She then called out to her bandmates, "Shane's here."

Nora was the first one to come in, wearing flannel pants and an Alabama Crimson Tide football jersey, and her hair done up in pigtails. Shane took one look at her, pointed and said, "That's it! That's the look you should have."

Vickie came in behind Nora, looked at her and said, "You're kidding, right?"

Shane clarified, "Not the outfit, the hair. That works. It'll look great after you bleach your hair back."

Nora yelled, "Oh God, No!" and raised her hands. "My hair got fried from being a blond all those years and it's only now starting to come back to normal."

Shane calmly insisted, "But you do look better as a blond."

Nora paused for a moment, then said, "What about this? What if, instead of blond, I go with a light brown? That way, each of us has a distinct individual hair color."

Shane took a moment to visualize it and said, "Yeah, I guess that could work."

By now, Lita had joined them, and sarcastically commented, "Her wardrobe still needs a lot of work. She still dresses like someone out of a nursing home. There have been a few times I wanted to burn her clothes while she was in the shower, for her own good."

Nora looked to the others and said, "Well, I said I was willing to hear your thoughts for a new look, but you haven't given me much in the way of suggestions. You just keep making jokes about what I'm wearing. That doesn't help."

Trish spoke up, "Tell you what. We haven't had a day off in quite a while. Let's hit the mall and find what would work for you, and for the rest of us", pausing to glare at Lita. "It will be all about finding our stage looks." She then turned to Shane and asked, "You want to come with us, offer your opinions?"

Shane said, "I'll pass. Actually, I came in because you said you had a lot of songs written. You got any demos so I can give them a listen?"

Lita took him by the arm and said, "Right out in the garage. I'll set everything up so you can listen, then we'll go shopping. Also, we have video from last night's practice show if you want to see that."

As they moved towards the garage practice area, Shane said, "Sure."

* * *

Once Shane was set up in the garage, the four women got dressed and piled into Lita's car to head to the mall. Once they parked and began walking across the parking lot to the mall itself, Vickie asked, "Lita, can I ask you a really silly question?"

The redhead answered, "By all means."

The raven-haired drummer then asked, "I've meant to ask you this for a while, but why don't you ever carry a purse?"

Lita answered, "Don't need to" as she gestured to her lower half. "Cargo pants. Greatest invention ever. The Hardys got me hooked on them. They have room for everything, so I don't run the risk of losing or forgetting it. I do have a few bags for certain occasions, like if we're going through an airport, but overall, I just don't like being separated from my shit."

As they entered the mall itself, Trish asked, "Aren't you worried people will think you're a fat-ass from having everything stuffed into your pockets?"

Lita answered with a question of her own, "Do I look like someone who cares what other people think?"

As they passed Abercrombie &amp; Fitch, Lita told the others, "I'll meet up with you later. I'm gonna try and get more cargo pants, but it lighter colors. Most of mine are black. That was the look the Omegas had and I want something different."

Meanwhile, Vickie spotted Victoria's Secret a few doors down and said, "I need to get sports bras so my boobs aren't flapping all over the place while I play. I'll catch up with you."

Trish told both of them, "Give us a call when you're done so we can tell you where to meet up with us". The blond singer then turned to Nora and said, "It's you and me now."

They picked a store to start their expedition and went in. As they walked through, Nora stopped to look at some tops, but Trish grabbed her by the shoulders and said, "Move along. Nothing to see here."

Nora asked, "What are you doing?"

The blond singer answered, "Saving you from yourself, unless you really want Lita calling you 'Granny'. Nobody under 60 would wear something like that." Moving down the aisle a little further, Trish surveyed the racks and declared, "This is more like it."

Looking through a rack of dresses, Trish picked one, handed it to Nora and said, "Try this on."

Nora looked down at it and asked, "Are you sure? It looks a little short."

Trish answered, "Trust me. Now go put it on."

While Nora went into the changing room, Trish surveyed the other nearby racks of clothes. Some items she put aside for herself, others were intended for her brunette bandmate. After a few minutes, the brunette came out and asked, "Are you really sure about this?"

Trish reassured her and said, "It looks great. We may have a winner here."

Nora didn't share the blond singer's enthusiasm. She motioned towards the ultra-short hemline and triangular cleavage window and said, "I just feel like I'm showing off too much. I almost feel naked."

The blond rolled her eyes and said, "Fine", then handed her bandmate a pair of pants and a top and said, "Try these now."

Nora went back in the changing room and switched outfits while Trish resumed hunting for potential outfits. When she came out again, she again asked, "Are you sure about this?"

Trish said, "Don't worry about the pants just yet. I just gave you the black jeans as a stand-in until we can get you some leather pants to go with that corset top. Trust me, it will look great."

Nora looked in the mirror for a minute and said, "I'm just not feeling it. I don't want this strapless top falling down on me in the middle of a show. Besides, with my shoulders bare, my guitar strap is going to leave marks all over it."

The blond singer said, "I hadn't thought about that."

Nora then said, "I know you want to go with leather, but I do like these pants. Can we get something a little roomier, though? These are kind of tight."

Trish said, "OK, if you like those, we can work with that. Find a pair that's your size and I'll focus on tops to go with it."

After a few minutes, they reconvened and Trish gave Nora the tank top she selected. When the brunette came out of the dressing room, she asked, "I think we've got it."

Trish smiled, nodded and said, "That will definitely work. We have a winner. Besides, I think that look will complement Lita and her tomboy fashion sense."

The redheaded guitarist appeared behind Trish and asked, "You talking trash about me, Blondie?"

Trish turned and said, "Good, you're here." She then gestured to Nora and asked, "What do you think?"

Lita put down her shopping bags, took a moment to look her brunette bandmate over and said, "Yeah, I guess that will work. It's a big step up than what you normally wear, Princess."

Trish said to Nora, "OK then. Change out of that and get some more of them in your size."

As Nora went to change once again, Trish told her, "We'll be in the hat section when you're done."

As they walked to that part of the store, Lita said, "I'm not really into hats", and Trish clarified, "Not for you, silly. For me. I already have most of what I need in terms of outfits. I'm just feeling the need for something on my head. Here we go."

The blond picked up a beret, put it on and asked, "What do you think?"

Lita answered, "No, unless you're planning on becoming a painter."

Trish took it off and tried a fedora. Lita shook her head and said, "No. Too old-school."

Next, the blond tried a newsboy cap. Lita shook her head.

Next, a flat soft cap. The redhead shook her head no. Trish then turned it backwards, but Lita still said no.

Trish tried a bowler next. Lita shook her head.

Trish then tried a top hat. Lita looked at it for a minute and said, "That might work."

Trish put it aside and put on a cowboy hat. Lita said, "Too big."

The blond looked through the hats until she found a smaller one. She asked, "What do you think?" Lita raised both thumbs and said, "That's the one."

As Lita gave her approval, Nora came over with Vickie and said, "Look who I found."

Trish said, "Oh, good. More opinions." Gesturing to the hat, she then asked, "What do you all think of this?"

The raven-haired drummer said, "That is definitely you, Trish."

Trish took the hat off and said, "Good. Let me pay for this, then we can move along to the Leather Warehouse. I want to get some miniskirts to go with some of the tops I got."

* * *

The four women moved along to some of the other stores in the mall for other items, with a short break to have some lunch. Once they felt they had everything they needed or wanted, they headed back to the house, with a pit-stop at Walgreen's to pick up hair coloring products. Trish and Lita got their usual colors and between them, they found what they thought would be the right shade of light brown for Nora.

Back at the house, they all went in the front door, carrying bags with their purchases. Inside, Shane was sitting on the floor of the living room watching the videotape of the previous night's rehearsal. When he heard them come in, he looked at his watch and said, "Damn, you were gone a long time."

Vickie smiled and said, "Well, you know how us girls are about shopping."

Shane nodded and said, "All too well. I had a sister growing up. Anyway, since you've worked on finding her a new look, I need to ask. Nora, have you come up with a new name for yourself yet?"

The brunette bassist said, "I've given it some thought. What do you think of 'Nora Holly'? That was my mom's maiden name."

Shane pondered it for a minute, then said, "Better, but it's still lacking something."

Trish asked, "What about 'Mona Holly'? That way it will have a touch of old and new."

Nora put her hands up and insisted, "No. I told you - Mona's dead."

Vickie said, "Molly, … oops, sorry -"

Shane cut her off and declared, "No, wait, that's it! Molly Holly!"

Nora's voice had some protest as she loudly said, "That sounds like a doll's name!"

Shane assured her as he said, "But it has a ring to it. It works. Unless you have something better."

Nora sighed and said, "OK, I guess you can call me 'Molly Holly' from now on."

Lita put her arm around her brunette bandmate and sarcastically told her, "Don't worry. You'll always be 'Princess' to me."

Shane gestured to the video on the TV and said, "Anyway, having watched this, what do you think about getting in front of an audience in the near future?"

The redhead asked, "You mean like playing clubs and touring and stuff like that?"

Shane answered, "Sort of. If you're up for it, I can make some calls and try to get you a showcase at one of the clubs in LA, try to get you a record deal and find a good manager for you. Like I said last summer, with your respective pedigrees, you can sell yourselves as a supergroup instead of just another band trying to make the cut."

Lita spoke for the others as she said, "Let's do it. We've got everything we need to show everyone what we're made of."

Shane asked, "Good. So what do you girls call yourselves?"

Lita smacked herself in the forehead as she said, "Scratch what I just said. We are missing something. We've been so busy working on songs we haven't even thought about a band name."

Shane told them, "Well, you better come up with one soon, so we can start getting your press kit together."

_[A/N: Just so you know, the looks I'm going for with each of them are:_

_Trish – when she first came into the WWF as Test &amp; Albert's manager_

_Lita – her middle years (after she returned from breaking her neck, before she joined up with Edge) and that her Team Xtreme look for when she was in the Omegas_

_Vickie – from when she was one of the Godfather's hos_

_Nora/Molly – from her first year when she was a Holly Cousin, only with light brown hair instead of blond. Prior to this chapter, I based her poor taste in clothes on her 2002 prude persona, where she intentionally wore the most matronly-looking outfits imaginable. The first outfit she tried on was her dress from when she was Mona in WCW. The second outfit she tried on (the leather pants and corset top) was based on how she dressed in her last days as Mona, though she also wore the corset tops again during her final months in WWE._

_Officially, a supergroup is when a band is formed from members of other established bands. Most supergroups don't last long (usually two or three albums) either because of egos or going back to their original bands. Some of the more successful supergroups include Bad Company, Foreigner and Asia. More recent examples include Velvet Revolver, Audioslave or Black Country Communion. Feel free to check out some of their songs some time._

_Also, if you have any suggestions for what the girls in the band should call themselves, review and mention it there.]_


	9. Showtime!

Over the next few days, Shane made some calls and was able to set up a showcase for the girls at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go near Los Angeles in six weeks. He also took a copy of the DAT from their last 'rehearsal concert' to have copies made to send out as a demo. Trish took it upon herself to write the group's bio. Meanwhile, Lita called a photographer friend of hers, Tim White, to take some pictures of them. He set up a makeshift studio in the living room to get some group shots, then some of them individually. He then took some more shots as the girls rehearsed in the garage, so he could get them in their "work environment".

The whole time, they kept trying to think of a name for their new group, without success. Out of desperation, Trish found a band name generator on the internet on her laptop and began reading off possible names:

**Three Fires Behind**

** White Chorus**

** Last Lettuce**

** Velvet Bitches **

**Kissing Apple Riot**

**Warm Losers**

**Supersonic Vengeance**

**Lone Gravy**

**Cloud Paradox**

**Corduroy Festival**

**Stale Conclusion**

**Disco Biscuit**

**Rogue Fashion Arrangement**

**Hipster Empire**

**Glitter Pistols**

**Ivory Is Queen**

**Lucky Foxes**

**Affluent Soup**

**Dynamic Thongs**

**Polyester Lipstick**

All of the potential names got a "no" from at least one, and sometimes all, of her bandmates. Undaunted, Trish continued reading names the generator selected:

**Dirty Births**

** Molest Canada**

**Bittersweet Dawn Blood**

** Restless Secrets**

** The Beehive Effect**

** Pickled Siren**

**The Breakfast Rag**

After the last one, Molly said, "Back up a minute. What was the one before that again?"

Trish answered, "Pickled Siren."

The pigtailed brunette then said, "That has some possibilities. Remember the Sirens from mythology? In the Odyssey, they were said to be able to sing so sweetly they would lure sailors to their deaths. We don't need the 'pickled' part. How about just the Sirens?"

Skeptical, Lita said, "People may confuse it and think we're just loud annoying noises trying to get everyone's attention. Even though, … in a way, that is the effect we're going for. That's it – the Siren Effect."

Trish said, "I'm not really sure about it" and Vickie nodded her head, agreeing with her.

Lita looked to them and said, "If that's the case, you have five seconds to come up with something else." When nobody said anything, she spoke again, "Then it's settled – the Siren Effect. Worst case, we can always change it. It doesn't get etched in stone until we put a record out."

Trish pondered for a moment, then said, "Fine. We need something now, but I guess you're right. We can change it if it doesn't work."

* * *

Once they had a name for the band, Molly took some of the individual photos, and sent them to be used in creating full-page ads in the Recycler and the LA Weekly, advertising the show, the band, who the members were and the bands they previously played with. Some of the other pictures , along with their demo CD, were used as part of their press kits to be sent to various record companies. Molly paid for the ads to run for the four weeks leading up to the show.

While she was in the Omegas, Lita had been the keeper of their mailing lists, from the days she kept it in a small black phone book and even after she entered everything into a computer. When she left the band, she had to give it up, but kept an electronic copy for herself, just in case. Everyone on the list who lived within an hour of Los Angeles received an e-mail from her website, , advertising the show.

A week before the big day, the women packed up everything and began to head out West. Lita and Vickie rode in Lita's car while Molly and Trish followed in a rental van. Once they got there, they stayed in Trish and Vickie's much-smaller house. It was a little crowded, but they kept rehearsing to make sure they were ready for the big night. Lita had smaller versions of their show ads printed up into fliers and, the day before the show, they went down to the Sunset Strip and stapled fliers to everything they could. After that, they drove up and down the Strip in Trish's convertible, with the top down and their demo CD playing at high volume. Every time they had to stop for a traffic light, the others would hand out fliers to people on the streets. By the end of the day, they knew they had done everything to make sure they were ready and the show would be a success.

* * *

The day of the show, the girls arrived at the club in the late afternoon to start loading in. They had their own amplifiers but because they didn't have a PA, monitors or some of the other things they needed, Lita called in a favor from a band the Omegas toured with a few years earlier, Crowbar, and also got them to open the show. Also, since they didn't have any roadies or support people, they had to load in everything themselves.

About half an hour later, the gear they had was loaded in and they were setting up what they could when the Crowbar crew arrived: singer/guitarist David Flair, singer/bassist Daffney Unger and drummer Chris Ford, along with their three-man road crew. When she saw them arrive, Lita dropped down off the stage to greet them. She hugged David and asked, "Thank you so much for helping us out. We really appreciate it."

David waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about it. We owe you. A few years ago when our truck flipped and all our gear got wrecked, the Omegas helped us out big time, taking us on the road and sharing your gear with us until we could get back on our feet. If it wasn't for you guys, we would have been finished."

Daffney brushed past David and threw her arms around Lita, asking "So how's my partner in crime doing?" The redhead answered, "Pretty good. Even though things fell apart between me and Matt, I've landed on my feet. Got a new band together and we're ready to launch." She then looked to the others and said, "C'mon, let me introduce you to them."

As they headed towards the stage, Lita called out, "Blondie! Wacko! Princess! I got some people I want you to meet." As Trish and Vickie moved to the edge of the stage and bent down, Lita took a minute to introduce everyone. Pleasantries were exchanged, then Lita yelled, "Princess! You gonna join us or are you being antisocial?"

Molly had been connecting her keyboard setup and was booting up her laptop with the Emulator software. As a result, she wasn't paying attention but after Lita called out to her, she looked up from what she was doing and said, "Oh, hi guys."

David looked at her for a second, trying to remember why she looked so familiar, then asked, "Mona?"

The brunette said, "In the flesh, and the name's Molly now" as she hopped off the stage and embraced David, then Chris, then Daffney.

Daffney smacked Lita in the back of the head and said, "You didn't tell us you had Mona in your band. Shame on you, keeping secrets from us."

Dumbfounded, Lita asked, "You all know each other?"

Molly looked to her redheaded bandmate and said, "Of course. We did some European festival dates together while I was with Randy Savage."

David then said, "Yeah. Speaking of which, we're really sorry about Randy and the others. He was one of the all-time greats."

"Thank you", Molly said, then asked, "Speaking of all-time greats, how's your father doing?"

Trish interrupted and asked, "Who's your father?" and David answered, "Ric Flair."

Vickie's jaw dropped as she asked, "THE Ric Flair?! He was the biggest star in the world in the 80's."

David nodded and said, "Yes, the same. He doesn't tour as much as he used to, but he still packs them in, so he'll keep going."

Vickie then asked, "If your father is Ric Flair, why aren't you doing something more like him?"

David answered, "Because I wanted to be my own man, not my father's son. Besides, after my parents split up, I barely saw him because he was always on the road or working on a new record, so I ..."

Chris interrupted and said, "No offense, but we have a show to set up for. We can chit-chat later." On that note, everyone worked to load in and set up.

* * *

Once everything was set up and soundcheck had been completed, everyone retreated to the backstage area. Because of the small dressing room, the makeup table only had room for one person at a time. As Lita finished changing into what she would be wearing on stage that night, she looked over to Molly at the makeup table and said, "Damn, Princess. You really do clean up well."

Molly said, "Thanks. Randy Savage had professional hair and makeup people, and I had them tell me what they were doing so I could do it myself should the need arise. I really don't like wearing this much makeup all the time, but it works for the stage." After putting the finishing touches on her face, she stood up to let Lita take her turn in front of the mirror.

Meanwhile, Vickie sat in the corner, nervously tapping on her thighs with her drumsticks. Trish could see she didn't look right and asked, "Is everything alright, Vickie?"

The raven-haired drummer confided, "Trish, I have to be honest with you. I am a nervous wreck. My heart is racing, I threw up in the bathroom a few minutes ago, and I shit my panties earlier today. I've never felt like this before a show – not in Diva Delight, not ever.

"Trish, everything is riding on this show. If this isn't absolutely perfect, everything we've worked for these last several months will have been for nothing. As the drummer, everything is riding on me. If I fuck up, I'll take everyone down with me."

Trish looked her long-time friend in the eye, took her hands and said, "Vickie, you'll do fine. That's why we've rehearsed so much since last summer – so we can do this in our sleep. Calm down, and just breathe. Everything will be alright."

Vickie then tried to calm down, then said, "I need a drink, or something."

Trish warned her, "Just one. You don't want to get sloshed", then helped her friend to her feet.

* * *

After Crowbar did their 45-minute set and removed their amps, it was show time. The four women began to make their way from the dressing room to the stage steps, when they saw Shane McMahon standing there, giving them a thumbs-up. As they passed by, he said, "There's a full house out there, plus plenty of record company people and potential management. Break a leg!"

Once they got to the stage steps, they waited for the house lights to go off and '2001' played over the PA. They made their way onto the stage, grabbed their instruments and played along with the recording until it ended. From there, the stage lights came on and Lita went straight into the opening chords of the first song. They played three songs in a row non-stop to set the tone for the rest of the night.

After the third song, the crowd cheered enthusiastically, and Trish commented, "Talk about a live audience! You enjoying the show so far?" They yelled back, "Yeah!" and she asked, "You want some more?" Once again, they yelled back, "Yeah!" and Vickie counted off to begin the next song, no longer feeling the nervousness that she had before the show.

Over the next 80 minutes, they did 20 more songs. Even though they were a new band without a record out, their songs were catchy enough that people took an almost instant liking to them. After the last song, Vickie came out from behind her drums and the four took a group bow in front of the cheering crowd before heading off the stage. At the foot of the stage steps, Lita asked, "Should we do an encore?"

Molly looked out to the audience and commented, "I don't think they'd have a problem with that."

The four headed back up the steps and back onto the stage. As Vickie moved behind her drums and Lita and Molly picked up their guitars, Trish stepped up to the mic and asked, "Are you hungry for more?" As the crowd cheered, Trish held her hands up to her ears, acting like she couldn't hear them. They cheered louder and the blond singer said, "Your wish is our command. Take it away, Lita!"

Because they had done almost all of their originals already, they played three cover songs for the encore. After the third one, Trish told the crowd, "Thank you and good night!" and the four women once again headed off stage.

* * *

After they came down the stage steps and headed for the dressing room, Shane was waiting and told them, "You were great! You've won over a lot of industry people tonight. They all want a piece of you."

Lita said, "That's great, but we don't even have a manager yet" and opened the door to go in their dressing room. Inside was a short, bald man in a cheap suit. He stood up and pressed his hand into each of theirs as he said, "Ladies, ladies. My name is Paul Heyman, and I think we can do great things together." From there, he went into a sales pitch of how far he could take them and what his percentage would be.

Once he finally stopped talking, Lita asked, "How the hell did you get into our dressing room? Get the fuck out, slimeball!" and pointed to the door. Paul headed to the door and said, "We'll be in touch", holding his thumb and pinky to his head like he was talking on the phone.

After Heyman left, a knock came at the door and a familiar male voice said, "Girls, it's me, Shane. Can I come in?"

Molly said, "Sure, we're all decent" and opened the door for him. Once he was inside, she closed the door and asked, "What's up?"

Shane answered, "You've got a lot of potential management out there who would like to meet you. You want to meet with them now?"

Lita rolled her eyes and said, "We just met one of them. Paul Heyman."

Shane recognized the name and said, "Yeah, I can understand why you kicked him out. Paul Heyman is a manager/promoter based out of Philadelphia. He has a lot of alternative-type acts on his roster and he does have a good track record of making acts a success, but he has a bad reputation with handling money."

After a long pause, Trish spoke up said, "I can't speak for the others, but Shane, after Vickie and I got fucked over by Eric Bischoff with Diva Delight, it's going to be very hard for me to ever trust another manager, which is why I'd like to ask …". She paused to take a breath, then continued, "Shane, will _you_ be our manager?"

Shane was taken aback by the question and said, "M-m-me? I-I-I'm not a manager, I'm a record company executive."

Trish took his hands and said, "Shane, you've done so much for us that I'll come out and say it: this band wouldn't have come together without you. You've got the knowledge, the industry contacts, and having been a record company exec, you know how they operate and how to negotiate with them. More than that, I trust you more than someone we've never met until now."

Vickie said, "I hadn't even considered that but now that Trish has said it, it makes complete sense."

Shane took it all in, paused, and said, "I-I-I don't know what to say. This is all so sudden."

Lita looked at him and said, "I believe the word you're looking for is 'yes'." Molly smiled and nodded in agreement with what the others asked.

Shane took a deep breath and said, "This is going to be a new experience – for all of us. Yes, I'll do it."

_[A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter done. I had an extremely hard time trying to come up with a name for them. What do you think of The Siren Effect? Good? Bad? Want something else? All those other band names listed came from two different internet band name generators I went to online._

_Some of you may remember Tim White from his time as a referee in WWE until the mid-2000's, but he had been with the company going all the way back to 1977, when he used to run the merchandise booth at cards, and later became Andre the Giant's regular traveling companion._

_In the dying days of WCW in 2000, David Flair, Daffney and Chris Ford (wrestling under the name Crowbar there – he also wrestled as Devon Storm in ECW) were a trio that I always thought had a lot of similarities to Team Xtreme._

_Most of you know Paul Heyman nowadays as Brock Lesnar's mouthpiece, but he has been involved with the wrestling business since he was a teenager, taking photos at WWWF cards in Madison Square Garden in the early 1980's (there is a very famous picture of him with legendary managers Fred Blassie, Captain Lou Albano and the Grand Wizard from that time period). He broke into the business as a manager in Jerry Lawler's stomping ground, Memphis. He then became a successful manager in WCW in the early 1990's before moving into the role of booker and promoter for ECW. After ECW went out of business in 2001, he was hired by WWE as a commentator, manager and part of the creative team, leaving at the end of 2006, then returning in 2012 with Brock Lesnar._

_The Whiskey-A-Go-Go is one of the most famous nightclubs in West Hollywood on the famous Sunset Strip. It's small, only holding about 250 people, but has been around since at least the 1960's, when the Doors and Alice Cooper would play there. Van Halen filmed a music video for the song "Dreams" there at a concert in 1993 – part to celebrate their 15__th__ year as a band, part to promote their then-recently released live album, "LIVE – Right Here, Right Now"._


	10. Making A Record

Shane had been a little surprised by Trish asking him to be their manager, but was touched she trusted him enough of him to ask. He agreed to it, but said he would only do it "until you find someone better", as he was hesitant to leave his record company position.

His first task was to sift through the offers the record companies left the girls that night and determine who they should sign with. He knew the basics of these contracts well, having read through them as a record company executive, but now he had to think about the best interests of the artist rather than the record company. After looking them over, and weighing what each one offered in terms of money and creative freedom, he picked the one he felt benefitted them the most, made some calls, then drove out to tell them the news.

After he arrived at Trish and Vickie's house where they were staying until they heard back from him, he knocked on the door and Trish yelled, "It's open! Come on in!" Once inside, he found the four of them sitting on the floor, playing on acoustic instruments. Trish said, "Hey, Shane. What brings you all the way out here?"

He answered, "You have a winner! It took a while to look over the offers and let an attorney friend of mine read the fine print, but of the offers you got, I think the one you should go with is the one from Titan Records."

Lita remarked, "Hey! That's the label the Omegas signed to just before I got forced out. I wonder how they'll feel about having me on the same label."

Molly said, "Randy Savage had his own record label, but his distribution was through Titan."

Shane looked at all four of them and said, "Anyway, … we're all going to do a press release about you signing with them later this week. After that, they want a record from you as soon as possible, and get you out on the road in time for the summer touring season. They're arranging time for you at Power Plant Studios in Atlanta."

"Atlanta?", Vickie asked as she turned around and moved her bongo drums off her lap. "Why not here? LA has lots of studios."

Shane told her, "I asked about that. They said they wanted you away from any distractions so you can focus. Like I said, they want an album from you ASAP. Also, there's one other thing before the press release."

Trish asked, "What's that?"

Shane said, "They think The Siren Effect is, as they put it, 'too alternative', and asked if you'd have a problem with calling yourselves just The Sirens."

Lita said, "I don't have a problem with it. Anyone else?" Her three bandmates all said, "No."

Lita then asked, "So, Shane … what made you decide Titan was the company to go with?"

He answered, "The money they offered was good, while still allowing you creative freedom. Besides, I have faith with the top management there."

Molly asked, "What makes you say that?"

Shane replied, "The CEO is my father."

Trish immediately stood up and asked, "Your father is VINCE McMahon, the head of Titan Media?"

Lita raised her hand and asked, "OK. Stupid question time. If Vince McMahon is your father, why aren't you working for Titan?"

Shane answered, "That's a good question and simply, I just wanted to forge my own path. I didn't want to be just 'The Big Guy's Son'. I wanted to be respected for my own accomplishments, not for my family tree. Anyway, the press conference announcing your signing will be this Wednesday, and you're expected to be in Atlanta by the weekend to start recording, so get yourselves ready."

The press conference went smoothly, with Vince McMahon himself announcing their signing, followed by questions and answers. After that, it was time to get ready to head east. As Molly was still nervous about flying due to having been in a plane crash, she volunteered to drive the rental truck with their gear in it, with Trish electing to travel with her to trade off driving with her. Lita and Vickie flew out to Atlanta Friday afternoon, with all of them arriving at the hotel they were staying late Friday evening.

After getting some much-needed sleep, they headed to the Power Plant with their gear. On arrival, they were directed to the back to load in, and told they'd be in Studio C. After they parked the truck, Trish went in the back door to survey the load-in path while the others began unloading.

When Trish got to Studio C, she saw two men setting up microphones in the room and said, "I was told this was where we were going to be recording."

A fat, hairy, bearded man with missing teeth said, "Oh, you must be Trish." He then offered his hand to her and introduced himself. "Mick Foley. I'm going to be your producer." Gesturing to the other man, he said, "This is my engineer and co-producer, Shane Douglas."

Shane offered his hand to her and said, "Nice to meet you. We're really looking forward to working with you. Where are the others?"

Trish said, "They're unloading the truck. Is there anyone who could give us a hand? Some of this stuff is kind of heavy."

Mick answered, "Most bands have roadies to do the heavy lifting for them. Seeing as you're new and don't have any, I guess we can give you a hand."

Vickie walked in, carrying cases with her drums in them and asked, "Where should I put these?"

Shane said, "Right over there" and pointed towards a thick sheet of plywood lying on the floor.

Vickie looked down at it and asked, "What's the deal with the wood on the ground? Lita had that at her place, too."

Mick explained, "The carpeting deadens sound. You don't want that. You want it to reverberate."

Vickie accepted the reasoning and said, "OK …" then put her drum cases down to go get the next load.

Meanwhile, Molly came in, wheeling her bass amplifier. Mick pointed to a corner of the room and said, "Put it over there", then he, Shane and Trish headed out to the truck. On the way, they passed Lita wheeling her guitar amp in.

Once everything was in the studio, Mick and Shane guided them as to where they wanted them to set up their gear. As Trish didn't have an instrument to set up, she returned the rental truck and took a cab back to the studio. Once back inside, the others had set up their gear. Shane had just finished setting up the mics for Vickie's drums and was moving something that looked like a little plastic wall in front of them when Trish asked, "What's that?"

Shane answered, "It's a sound baffle. It keeps the sound here and prevents it from being picked up by the other microphones. You want each instrument to be kept separate so they don't bleed into each other. Makes it much easier to mix everything later on."

Trish commented, "Never knew that. In Diva Delight, they always had all the instrumental tracks already recorded. Vickie, Torrie and I just added our vocals to them."

Meanwhile, Mick set up baffles by Lita and Molly's amps. Once that was done, he said, "Today, we're mainly just going to make sure everything sounds right. If we get that done, we'll try to get some actual recording later on. Sound good?" and gave a thumbs-up. They all nodded in agreement.

Making sure everything was set up right took time. It took almost an hour of tweaking before they were happy with the sound from Vickie's drums. From there, it was Molly's bass, her keyboards, Lita's guitar and finally, Trish's vocal microphone. Once they had everything the way they wanted it, Mick came out of the control booth and asked, "You girls ready to go, or you need to refresh yourselves first?"

Vickie had been lying on the floor half-asleep. She sat up and asked, "What took so long?"

Mick explained, "Making a record has a different set of rules than playing live in front of an audience. A concert only exists for that night. The record will live forever, so you want to get everything just right."

Vickie stood up, stretched her arms out for a few seconds and said, "Give me a couple of minutes to warm up, then let's roll."

Mick said, "That's the spirit. Anyway, this is the game plan. I listened to your demo, and I picked the 15 songs I think are the best. We're just going to go right down the line – do three takes of each, then move on to the next one. There will be a 30-second break between each take so I can give you feedback and if you need to take a drink of water or whatever."

Molly asked, "Why only three? Randy Savage would often do 30 or 40 until he was satisfied."

Mick explained, "Because you don't want to beat a song to death by doing it too many times. The more takes you do, the more spontaneous energy you lose."

Lita spoke up and said, "That's the way the Omegas were for our first few albums – get it down and move on."

Mick nodded and said, "Also, we're just going to do the core instruments first – drums, bass, guitar, lead vocals. Once we have those, we can add any backing vocals or keyboards later on."

Once the girls were warmed up and ready to go, Mick went back into the control booth. The girls put their headphones on, Shane prepared to roll tape and Mick told them which song to do first. For the next three hours, they did just what he said they would – three takes of each song, then move on to the next one, with Mick giving them suggestions between takes. After going through each song three times, Mick said they had done enough for the day and told them to come back the next day at 11AM.

For the next four and a half days, they fell into a routine – arrive at the studio, warm up for 10 to 15 minutes, then go to work recording. After going through the list of songs, the girls would take a meal break. Any takes that were decided to be 'the one', Mick and Shane would make a safety copy onto another reel of tape. When they would return, the girls picked up where they left off. As the list got shorter, they would go through the list more times if there was time.

Halfway through the fifth day, Mick proudly announced, "That's it. We've got the basic tracks. Trish, Lita, Vickie – you're all free to go until tomorrow, when we'll do the backing vocals. Molly, take a break and then we'll work on getting your keyboard parts down. Since it's only 4 or 5 songs that need them, we should be able to crank them all out in one session." Having spent three years working for a notorious perfectionist like Randy Savage, Molly was able to record her keyboard parts quickly and be back at the hotel to join the others relaxing before midnight.

The next day, they arrived at the recording studio and found someone talking to the receptionist. He turned around, saw the four women and said, "There you are. Oh, I'm Jerry Brisco from Titan Records. We wanted to get some pictures of you at work on the record, then I want to listen to what you've been working on."

Trish said, "Oh, great. We're almost done. We're just getting ready to add backing vocals today" and motioned him towards the studio they were using. When they walked in, Mick and Shane came out of the control booth to greet Jerry and told him about what they'd been working on. After that, Jerry moved into the control booth while the photographer he brought with him took pictures as the girls pretended to play through a few songs.

From there, it was back to work. The four of them warmed up their vocal chords and when they were ready, they signaled Mick that they were ready to record. Jerry sat and listened during the session, and liked what he heard very much. He made some notes and the end of the session, he told them how much he liked what they were doing and would tell his bosses at Titan Records the same thing.

That evening, they did a final session to complete the backing vocals on each song. After the last song, Mick came out of the control booth to tell them, "That's it. We got it. Your parts are done. It's now in our hands. We'll call you when we finish the final mixdown on everything. Should take about two weeks."

With their work on the record completed, the four bandmates headed to the bar at their hotel to celebrate the completion of their first album as a group.

_[A/N: A producer's official job is to manage the sessions and keep the artists productive. They can also be an extra set of ears to help an artist fulfill their vision and can sometimes play a big role in the creation of the music itself. Producers also have different philosophies of how to work, and I hope to explore some of those later on in this story._

_Mick Foley's career is well-documented so I won't go into too much here, but he has always been a supporter of the Divas so I wanted him to appear here. Shane Douglas also had a long career in the wrestling business, and he appears as Mick's co-producer as the two trained together with Dominic DeNucci in their early days._

_When Vince McMahon first bought the WWF from his father in the early 80's, the parent company he used was Titan Sports, thus Titan Records/Media. In this story, Vince is a multimedia mogul along the lines of Rupert Murdoch or Richard Branson.]_


	11. Video Shoot

The day after they had finished recording, they were spending the day in their hotel room. Trish and Molly were playing Uno, Vickie was watching TV and Lita was at her laptop, updating her blog on her website and looking over the response from people over the song clips she had posted a few days earlier.

Then Trish's cell phone rang. She closed her cards, grabbed her purse off the night table between the two beds and dug her phone out. She answered, "Hello".

It was Shane McMahon, their manager. He said, "They called me earlier this morning to tell me you girls finished recording already. You certainly didn't waste any time. Good for you."

Trish said, "We had the songs ready. We had spent months getting them ready. It was just a matter of getting them recorded." She then mouthed "It's Shane" to her bandmates.

Shane told her, "Anyway, Mick Foley said it would probably take two weeks to do the mixing on the album. The people at Titan were impressed with what you've done and have already decided 'All Night Long' will be the first single. Mick and Shane are mixing that one first, because they want to get a video made. They've scheduled a shoot at one of the big soundstages in Florida on Monday. It will be just you girls on stage, showing the world what you can do."

Trish said, "That's great. Thanks, Shane. I'll tell the others. Bye."

* * *

When the day came for the video shoot, they were all excited and a little nervous. They knew they had to make an impression, as this would be the first glimpse most people would get of the Sirens as a group, and they had to get it right. They arrived at the studio early and went into a warehouse-sized building, where a huge arena-sized stage was set up, with huge amplifiers, drum riser, lighting and everything.

Having only performed in small clubs, Trish and Vickie were in awe at the size of it. For Lita and Molly, it was nothing they hadn't been through already. As they made their way to the stage, they passed by technicians and camera people, moving equipment into place and fine-tuning everything. A guy with long black hair and a Fu-Manchu mustache greeted them and said, "Hello, ladies. Al Snow, I'll be your director today."

"Nice to meet you", Trish said. "Wow, this is all just so … big."

Al responded, "That's right. We need to grab people's attention. We want to grab the attention of everyone who sees this, so even though we'll have lots of lights and other stuff, the stars are you four, and I need you to be larger than life. Be animated. Be 'times ten'" as he raised his arms wide.

Lita said, "I think we can do that" and continued walking towards the stage with her guitar case in hand. The band had left most of their gear in Atlanta in case they needed to re-record anything, but Lita and Molly had their guitars with them, while other amps, drums and microphones were brought in for them. They wouldn't be playing 'live', but it was to look like they were.

As they continued walking towards the stage, Al said, "Before you get changed, I'd like to do a run-through. Just do what you normally would so I can determine how to capture it all."

Once they were on stage, Vickie sat down behind the drums, Lita and Molly plugged their guitars into the cables onstage, and Trish picked up the wireless microphone that was lying on the drum riser. They took a few minutes to loosen up, until Lita said, "Let's do this."

Al announced, "Alright, everyone. This is a rehearsal. Cue the music, lights. Starting in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 … and action!

The pre-recorded music came over the PA behind them and the four women did their thing, playing it as if they were at a big concert. All the while, Al held his hands up in front of him in a square-shape, visualizing how it would all look through the eye of the camera, and walking around to determine what angles to take.

Once they finished, Al came to the edge of the stage and said, "That was good. Just one thing." He turned towards Molly and asked, "Molly, why are you back there? The viewing audience is out here", pointing out that she was standing just in front the drum riser, instead of being out near the edge of the stage like Trish and Lita were.

Molly motioned behind her and said, "The drums are back here. It's important for a band to have a tight rhythm section. As the bassist, I need to be back here so I can stay in sync with Vickie."

Al said, "Not today, you're not. Today, you are going to be right here", pointing to a spot near the front of stage right, "and, could you at least try to act like you're having fun? Your friends have got it, but you, … This is you." He then held his arms out as if holding a guitar, his body very rigid and his head down, moving only his fingers to illustrate her lack of energy onstage.

Molly said, "Okay, got it" and the four went to get changed. As they neared the stage steps, Al called out, "Oh, and Molly? I hope you brought something better than that to wear." The brunette bassist rolled her eyes and followed the others to the dressing room.

* * *

Once the four of them had changed their clothes and the resident makeup artist had finished working on them, it was back to the stage. Technicians and camera people were making sure everything was ready to go. Al saw them coming out and said, "OK, places everyone. This is a take."

Everyone went to their assigned places. Al cued the music to come in, and everyone went to work. After the first chorus, he yelled, "Cut!" The music stopped and everyone else stopped moving as Al headed for the edge of the stage. He glared right at a certain brunette and said, "I thought you said you had it. You're still acting like you have a stick crammed up your ass."

Before Molly could say anything, Al raised his hand and said, "Never mind. We can deal with this." He then turned to the camera people and ordered, "Camera one, focus on Lita. Camera two, focus on Trish, but move over to Lita for the guitar solo. Camera three, focus on Molly. Alright everyone, let's take it from the top and try it again."

Everyone returned to their places and waited for the countdown before the music started. Once it began, the women went into action on the stage while everyone else played their parts, either working the cameras or the lighting. Once the song ended, Al came to the stage and said, "OK, that was good. Trish, Lita, Vickie, take five – and I mean five, not ten. Molly, come here – and you can take your bass off if you want."

While the other three went to get a drink and let the makeup girl look them over to see if they needed touch-ups, Molly came out onto the floor where the cameras were. Al brought her around so she could see the playback monitors. He told the camera people to play back what they had just filmed. As they watched, Al pointed to Trish and Lita's performances and said, "This is what I want – not this", pointing to Molly's own performance. He then grabbed her head, looked her in the eye and asked, "Do you get it now?"

Molly meekly said, "I think so" and headed back up onto the stage. The other three also headed back, ready to do another take. Everyone resumed their positions, Al realigned the camera people, moving one up onto the side of the stage to get some shots of Vickie playing. Once everything was ready to go again, he called out for the next take, counted down and the music came on.

This time, Molly managed to loosen up, bopping from side to side during the intro and moving over to sing with Trish during the second chorus. After the song ended, Al sarcastically clapped and said, "I think she's got it." He moved the cameras around again, and everyone readied for another take.

It took a few hours, but they were almost done. Al dismissed Trish, Lita and Molly so he could get close-ups of Vickie from in front of her drum kit without the others getting in the way. As they watched, Lita's cell phone rang. She took it out of her olive cargo pants, moved away from the PA and answered, "Hello?"

It was Shane. He asked, "How's the video shoot going?"

"We're almost done", the redhead answered. "They're just getting close-ups of Vickie now."

"Already?", Shane asked. "If you're moving that smoothly, ask if you can get another song filmed.

"Anyway, I just called to let you know where things are going. The mixing is still on schedule. There are people working on the artwork and the layout for the CD booklet. The usual, some pictures, lyrics, you know the deal. They want the album in stores by mid-to-late June and the video on TV a little before then, because you're heading out on the road opening for Radical Revolution for the summer. I had the people from Rotundo &amp; Associates …"

Lita interrupted and asked, "Who?"

Shane clarified, "Rotundo &amp; Associates – they're THE rock &amp; roll financial firm. Accounting, taxes, investments, … you name it, they handle it. Anyway, they ran the projected numbers and said you shouldn't take too much of a loss being out on the road this summer."

Lita softly yelled, "Hold on! What do you mean, a loss? Never mind, let me guess: hotel and travel costs, right?"

Shane simply answered, "Bingo."

Lita then said, "Shane, e-mail me our tour itinerary. I might be able to bring those numbers down. With the Omegas, we built up a pretty big network of people willing to let us crash with them. I was the keeper of the address book and I had to hand it over when I left, but I had transferred everything to my laptop anyway. Let me put out some feelers and see what I can do."

"I'll send it to you later tonight", Shane said. "Keep in mind, it will only be the dates you're opening. I'm still working on trying to get you some club dates of your own in between."

Meanwhile, the music playing finished and Al called out, "OK, that's a wrap, people!"

Lita said, "Hold on a second, Shane" then walked over to Al. She asked the director, "Our manager is on the phone. Since we finished relatively quickly, he would like to know if we can film another video while everyone's here." She held out her phone and asked, "Would you like to talk to him?"

Al said, "Sure" and took the phone. While they spoke, Lita headed back over to where Trish and Molly were and said, "That was Shane. Right now he's negotiating for us to shoot another video, and he wanted to let us know about tour plans for the summer."

Al then called out, "Do you girls HAVE another song you can do?"

Trish said, "I have our rough cut CD in my purse. It hasn't been mixed properly but the music's all there. We'll do 'Push Comes To Shove'."

"Perfect. Go get it", Al said, then turned to his crew and ordered, "OK, people! We're doing another video, so you've put anything away, get it out again! Reload the cameras. Reset everything. We begin shooting again in 30 minutes. Let's get to it." He then returned Lita's phone to her and told the girls, "Go get changed. We don't want it to look too obvious both videos were shot at the same time."

_[A/N: Sorry it took so long to get another chapter done. Life got VERY busy for me the last few months. For those of you who've stayed with this story, I thank you and I promise to do better at getting chapters out in the future._

_Back in the early days of MTV (when they still actually played videos), it was not uncommon for a band to film two or three videos at once, to get them out of the way so they could focus on other things, like playing live or promotional appearances. Nowadays, with video compilations, you can easily see which ones were filmed back-to-back, between the outfits and the style of the director._

_Some of you might think Al Snow is an unusual choice for a video director, based on what a wacko he was on-screen, but since leaving wrestling, he has been doing documentary filmmaking, so it seemed like a good fit. I had thought about reprising some of the bits where he tried to give Steve Blackman personality lessons back in 2000 (with Molly playing Blackman's part), but I then thought they were too silly _

_The 'Rotundo' of Rotundo &amp; Associates is old-school wrestler Mike Rotundo. Older readers will probably remember his time as evil tax accountant Irwin R. Schyster in the 1990's, and to a lesser extent as Michael Wallstreet in WCW. Nowadays, he's better known as Bo Dallas and Bray Wyatt's father._

_As for who Radical Revolution is, you'll have to wait until the next installment.]_


	12. Time To Hit The Road

It took time, but everything was coming together in preparation for the record release. Mixing and mastering was completed on the songs, pictures were compiled and lyrics printed for the CD booklet and the first video had been edited, ready to air. In addition, Lita was able to find people in enough cities willing to put them up for the night, which allowed them to cancel many of their hotel reservations, meaning their upcoming tour would turn a profit.

Two days after the video shoot, Shane had called the girls to update them on things. He had made arrangements with a disused theater for them to rehearse in for the two weeks before the tour with Radical Revolution began, so they could get used to playing on big stages as a group. He also let them know that Mick Foley didn't need them for any retakes, so he also arranged for their gear to be brought down to them, along with everything else they'd need.

On the day of rehearsals, the girls arrived early, after finding a cheap motel nearby to stay in. They waited until three minivans came driving up – one red, one white, one blue with white trim. Shane got out of the passenger side of the red one and said, "Hey, girls. Ready to go?"

Trish said, "Sure. Ready to rock."

As the others stepped out of the minivans, Shane said, "Allow me to introduce you to your road crew." Pointing to his left to the older man who had been driving the red van, he introduced, "This is Dave Finlay. He will be your road manager."

Dave gruffly said, "Call me 'Fit'."

Turning to his right, Shane gestured to the two large men and said, "And helping to set things up for you, we have Andrew Martin and Albert Bloom." Both men just raised their hands as a way of saying hello.

Lita walked over, looked at the three well-packed minivans, smiled and said, "Now this is a slice of home. When we first started playing out in the Omegas, we had an old minivan. We could barely fit everything and us in it. When we started really hitting the road after making our first record, we upgraded to a big cargo van. Still barely had any room in it for everything."

Trish looked in them and remarked, "It's hard to believe we need all this to put on a show. We didn't play out much with Diva Delight, but we only had two roadcases, and one of those was our outfits."

Vickie pointed out, "Remember, Trish, we didn't play instruments in Diva Delight. We just plugged into the house PA, danced and sang. We only had three headset mics, three monitors and our backing track CD, plus we only had a road crew of one, our roadie/driver/soundperson/bodyguard, Nicole. She looked like a guy with breast implants but she took good care of us."

The raven-haired drummer turned and saw Molly just standing there, her eyes staring at the cars and her mouth hanging open. She then closed her bandmate's jaw with her finger and said, "Close your mouth, Molly. We are not a codfish."

Molly was silent for a few seconds, then loudly asked, "This is it?! Where's the rest of it?! There should be three or four semi-trucks filled with gear – one for the lighting rigs, one for the PA, one for instruments, amps and monitors, one for the big-screen and cameras, plus 20 to 30 technicians to run everything and put it together – and where's the tour bus?!"

The guys and Lita all started laughing at her, which prompted Molly to shriek, "This isn't funny!"

Lita looked right at her bandmate and said, "And _this_ is why we call you 'Princess'."

Fit stopped laughing long enough to glare at Molly as he growled, "This ain't the Kliq, honey."

Lita turned to Shane, pointed to Fit and said, "I like him already." She then put an arm around Molly's shoulder and said, "Princess, Randy Savage is dead. Accept it. You had the good fortune of starting at the top. Now, you are about to see what it's really like for a band on the road, starting at the bottom."

Shane looked at his watch and said, "I've got some record company business to take care of, then I gotta catch a red-eye back to LA. Fit, I leave them in your hands."

Fit then yelled, "Alright, my little three-chord bimbos. Time to get your hands dirty. Let's get to work!"

Since the girls needed to help with setting everything up, each girl worked on their own instrument set-ups, with Trish assigned to setting up Molly's keyboard and MIDI pedals as she didn't play an instrument in the band. The guys handled loading in the heavier stuff like amplifiers and PA speakers.

Over the next two weeks, they would set everything up, sound check, rehearse their set lists (as an opening act they would only have an hour, but would have 90 minutes for their own club shows), then break everything down and pack it up afterwards. Throughout the rehearsals, Fit timed everything with a stopwatch, as they only had about an hour to set everything up before the show, then 15 minutes to get everything off the stage after their set. By the end of the rehearsal period, they all knew what had to be done when, and their set list had been perfected. It was now time to show a live audience what they were made of.

**AMERICAN AIRLINES ARENA – MIAMI, FLORIDA**

The tour party arrived at the arena in the mid-to-late afternoon. Upon arrival in the parking lot in the arena, Fit walked around and asked someone who was in charge. They pointed to a petite, tan brunette woman holding a clipboard, had a radio clipped to her belt, who was ordering people around. Fit went up to her and bluntly asked, "We're the opening act. Where do we put everything?"

The woman looked at the four women behind him and said, "Oh, you must be the Sirens." She then offered her hand to each of them and introduced herself, "Nancy Benoit. I'm Chris's wife and I co-manage Radical Revolution. They're still doing soundcheck, but let me show you where to bring everything in and run through the schedule with you."

Nancy then led them to where to load everything in, saying they could leave everything by the stage ramp until it was time to bring it onstage and set up. Once they off-loaded, they guys went to move the minivans, while the girls watched Radical Revolution complete their soundcheck. Singer/bassist Eddie Guerrero, guitarist/singer Chris Benoit, keyboardist Dean Malenko and drummer Chavo Guerrero ran through some of their songs while their sizable road crew checked sound, lighting, monitors, the big screen behind the stage, the rear projection films, the lasers, and the fog machines.

Once they were satisfied with everything, it was around 5:30 in the afternoon. Their crew began putting up dividers to hide their gear while the Sirens and their crew began moving everything up the ramp and into place. It took 30 minutes to get everything where it belonged, set up and in working order. Albert went out near the other end of the arena to hook up their soundboard. Andrew was on stage right, adjusting their monitor mix. The girls took their respective places onstage and ran through a few songs to fine-tune how everything sounded. By 7PM, everything was ready to go and the arena opened its doors to let the public in.

The girls went backstage to their dressing room to change into their stage outfits and do their hair and makeup. Once she was done, Trish took a walk around the backstage area to shake the butterflies out of her stomach. On her walk, she came across Eddie Guerrero, who was relaxing on top of some of the roadcases. On seeing the blond singer, he sprung to his feet and greeted her, "Hola, Mamacita! Care for a little Latino Heat to set your soul on fire?"

Trish sarcastically asked, "Has any girl ever fallen for that line?"

Eddie smirked and answered, "Only the cool ones. What do you say, Mamacita?" and leaned in to kiss her on the lips. Trish leaned her head back to avoid it, then heard the most grating, irritating voice she had ever heard, and it said two words:

"EX-CUSE ME!"

Trish turned to see an angry, fat, middle-aged brunette woman standing there with her hands on her hips, glaring at her. She said, "I know you and your little band of hussies think you can have any man you want, but this one's off limits!", and pointed to Eddie with her thumb.

Trish started to say, "Trust me, I wasn't …" but she was cut off by the woman, who raised her index finger and continued yelling, "Do you know who I am? I'm Vicky Guerrero, co-manager of Radical Revolution AND Eddie's wife! I can have you bounced off this tour just like that if I wanted to!", snapping her fingers.

While Vicky yelled at her, Trish saw Eddie moving behind his wife, holding his hand over his mouth, trying not laugh. She continued her rant, yelling, "If I ever catch you or any of the rest of you slut friends trying to steal my man, you're off this tour! Is that clear?!"

Trish meekly replied, "Yes. Crystal clear", and headed back to the dressing room. As she approached the door, Fit pounded on it and yelled, "Five minutes, my little three-chord bimbos!" and let Trish in. The blond ran a brush through her hair one last time and grabbed her cowgirl hat before she and the others began to head for the stage. Fit led the way to keep people away from them. During the walk, Trish said, "I met Eddie's wife just now."

Lita asked, "Did she pull that 'Stay away from my husband!' bit?"

Trish answered, "Yeah, she did."

Lita laughed, waved her hand and said, "Don't worry about it. They pulled that on me a few years ago when we were at a festival in Europe. That's just their way of having a little fun with the other acts."

Molly spoke up and said, "Debbie said they pulled that on her when she was with Danger Incorporated in the early-90's. Eddie had to stop her from beating the snot out of Vicky over it."

Once they got to the stage steps, Fit stepped aside and let them head up. The house lights went off and Albert, from being the mixing board out in the arena, turned on the police siren that radiated throughout the arena. Andrew turned on the beacon lights they had on top of the amps – red on Lita's, blue on Molly's. Once she was behind her drums, her headset mic on, Vickie began playing and a spotlight came on her. Molly then began playing her bass and a spotlight came on her at her spot on stage-right. Once Lita was ready, she struck a chord, a spotlight came on her and she used controlled feedback to emulate the sound of the siren, which Albert let die down. Vickie counted off "1, 2, 3, 4!" and they went into the first song as Trish ran out into the spotlight at center stage and the rest of the stage lights came on.

For the next 55 minutes, they gave it everything they had. Even though the arena was only half-filled, they wanted each and every one of those people to take notice of them. They finished their set with 'All Night Long' and near the end, Lita once again used the controlled feedback to make a siren sound as the beacon lights came on again and Trish left the stage, then Molly, then Vickie and finally, Lita took her guitar off and leaned it against the amps, letting it feed back as she left the stage.

Once the house lights came on again, Albert turned off the sound at the mixing board and began to unplug the wires and pack it up. On the stage, Andrew had powered down the amps and the monitor board, then began picking up the monitors from the stage.

After they had left the stage, the girls dried off their sweat with the towels Fit handed them, then lent a hand to breaking down everything. Trish, Lita and Molly began moving the amps off the stage from behind, while Vickie threw sweat pants and a T-shirt over her stage outfit, tied her hair up and began taking her drums down. While they moved everything off the stage, Radical Revolution's crew moved the dividers hiding their gear out of the way and double-checked everything for their set.

_[A/N: In the 1970's, it was actually very common for a band doing their first tour of the US to do it in a fleet of station wagons. Fleetwood Mac, Styx and Earth, Wind &amp; Fire are just some of the bands who did that. Here, minivans are the modern equivalent of station wagons._

_Diva Delight's one-girl road crew, Nicole, was former bodybuilder Nicole Bass, who was briefly in the WWF as Sable's bodyguard/muscle in 1999._

_Some of you probably remember the Radicalz when they came into the WWF in early 2000. Prior to that, they were called the Revolution in WCW, thus the name. I felt Chavo Guerrero fit in better than Perry Saturn, but Perry will be appearing later on. We'll show you their set in the next chapter._

_Fit Finlay was a pretty good wrestler in his time, but he is also known as the road agent who helped make the women's matches during that time period special, so he was my only choice to be their road manager. His "three-chord bimbos" line comes from the Rolling Stones former road manager and pianist, Ian Stewart, who regularly called them "my little three-chord wonders"._

"_Andrew Martin" is Test's real name, and "Albert Bloom" is Albert, a combination of his wrestling name and his real name of Matthew Bloom. Many of you probably remember back in 2000 when Trish debuted as their manager, but back in 1997, Test made his WWF debut on a night that Motley Crue performed live on Raw. He played one of their roadies, which is how he wound up with the name, "Test".]]_


End file.
